Patrick Beja and Justin Robert Young are on to talk about Stephen Hawking’s new toy, whether phones are too expensive in India and a US Supreme Court case that could gag the Internet.

MP3

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: Patrick Beja and Justin Robert Young 

Headlines

PC Magazine reports the FBI emailed a five-page confidential notice warning US businesses to watch out for malware similar to the kind that infected Sony Pictures Entertainment’s internal system. The notice shared some details on what happened at Sony including overwriting of data that may be difficult or impossible to recover. The BBC asked the North Korean government if it was involved in the attack. A spokesman for the North Korean government replied: “”The hostile forces are relating everything to the DPRK (North Korea). I kindly advise you to just wait and see.” Meanwhile Reuters reports a U.S. national security official says North Korea is among the multiple suspects being investigated.

The Verge reports Twitter announced changes to its process for reporting abuse. Fewer steps will now be required to report such behaviour, and those who are not involved have an easier way to flag abuse when they see it. Also, blocked users will no longer be able to view the profiles of people who have blocked them. Users will also have a page where they can view and edit accounts they have blocked.

Recode reports that Sprint has a new promotion coming Friday in the US. Customers who bring a current AT&T or Verizon bill into a Sprint store can set up a new Sprint plan that is half the cost of their current charges for calls, texting and data. The customer has to buy an unsubsidized phone though. Sprint will also pay up to $350 in early termination fees or remaining device payments, if customers turn in their existing devices. The offer does not extend to T-Mobile customers. Or current Sprint customers.

The Verge reports Snapchat now allows all its users to create pictures with geofilters. Snapchat added the feature earlier this year allowing users to view images attached to a location but until now only developers could create the images. Users interested in submitting images must follow template instruction at snapchat.com/geofilters, choose the location, then upload. Snapchat employees must approve the art before it’s shared with friends.

The Sinclair ZX Spectrum is making a comeback. The Verge reports the popular 1980s computer from the UK is being recreated through an Indiegogo project endorsed by Sir Clive Sinclair himself. The new Sinclair Spectrum Vega comes in the shape of a rectangular gamepad with 1,000 preloaded games. You can also use an SD card to load in more games. Backers must pay £100 for delivery expected to begin in February.

Reuters reports that Cyber Monday sales got off to a slow start, apparently because web promotions got off to an EARLY start. According to data from IBM Digital Analytical Benchmark, US online sales grew only 8 percent on Cyber Monday. Sales were projected to rise between 13-15 percent. The reason? Promotions began during the Thanksgiving weekend or even earlier possibly taking business away from Monday. So basically, people are shopping all the time, not just on one day. IBM also said Cyber Monday sales continued to be driven by mobile traffic which grew 38.3 percent this year, even as the average order value remained flat at $131.66.

TechCrunch reports US FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai sent a letter to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings today alleging the company is working to effectively secure Internet fast lanes. Pai notes Netflix, like Google did not join a consortium to create streaming video standards then accuses Netflix of changing its protocols to impede open caching software from correctly identifying Netflix traffic. Pai seems to be referring to Netflix’s Open Connect program where edge caching machines are placed inside ISPs like Cablevision to improve performance of Netflix video.

The Next Web reports Steam unveiled a new beta feature today called ‘Broadcasting.’ The feature allows a user to stream gameplay to friends, similar to Twitch, but directly from the Steam client. Steam broadcasting is only available for PC at launch but game streams can be viewed in Chrome and Safari.

News From You:

KAPT_Kipper sent us the devastating news that Microsoft has closed down the clip art and image library on office.com. Tech Crunch reports that users in need of imagery will now be pointed towards Bing Image search with a Creative Commons filter turned on. So, goodnight cow. Goodnight moon. Good night lady, with cake and balloons.

In related news, D’Angelo Barksdale was last seen yelling, “Where’s Word ART? String, look at me! Where’s WORD ART?”

TNTFan sent us theThe Next Web report that famed physicist Stephen Hawking has a new communications system that uses technology from SwiftKey to make it easier for him to write and talk. The updated system, which is built by Intel, lets him accurately choose entire words rather than individual characters. Professor Hawking’s typing speed is twice as fast with the new system. Wired Magazine has details of the development of the system, called called ACAT (Assistive Context Aware Toolkit) which is available as open source software in January.

ktoll2 passed along the Verge story about the journal Nature making research studies it publishes free to read online. Well sort of. The studies are free to read using a proprietary software platform accessible only if you have a direct link provided by a subscriber, and kept in a format that prohibits copying, printing, or downloading. So not really free as in beer or speech, more like free if you can get to it. Still that’s 140 years of peer-reviewed research that technically anyone can access.

Discussion Links: Objective v. Subjective

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-supreme-court-facebook-threats-free-speech-20141201-story.html

http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/26/7292755/supreme-court-tackle-online-threats-elonis

http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/elonis-v-united-states/

http://www.scotusblog.com/2014/12/argument-analysis-taking-ownership-of-an-internet-rant/

Pick of the Day: Junecloud via Jamie Brand

I wanted to tell you about an app I just discovered today called Deliveries by Junecloud. It’s a package tracking solution that has apps for iOS and OSX and makes tracking your shipped packages painless. It breaks down the ETA for each package, and even sends notifications if there is a change to your scheduled delivery date. The app for iOS costs $4.99 but with that you are able to use almost all of the main shipping outlets like UPS, USPS, Canada Post etc, and it even lets you forward confirmation emails to automatically add tracking information to the app. They just added a Widget to the Today screen as well so you don’t even have to open the app. I will be using this alot in the coming weeks for my many amazon purchases and hopefully fellow DTNS listeners can do the same.
Jamie in beautiful BC

Plug of the Day: 

Wednesday’s guest: Allison Sheridan of the Nosillacast podcast

Rafe Needleman joins the show to talk about whether Cyber Monday is just a myth created by marketers.

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: Rafe Needleman, Editorial Director, Yahoo Tech

Headlines

Gigaom reports Microsoft is in fact acquiring email startup Acompli. Javier Soltero formerly of VMWAre wrote the company will continue to develop mobile email apps for multiple platforms and services. While the consumer face will not change nothing was said about whether Acompli would move off of Amazon Web Services to Microsoft Azure on the back end. I’m betting that might happen.

Ars Technica passes along a Wall Street Journal report that a new version of Google Glass will arrive in 2015 with an Intel processor inside. This will replace the TI chip which was no longer made or supported causing many issues with keeping the Android OS updated. It also furthers Intel’s push into mobile and wearable devices. WSJ reports Google still views Glass as a consumer device.

Reuters reports Sony Pictures Entertainment has hired FireEye’s Mandiant forensics unit to help deal with the attack that shut down their internal systems last week. Email is expected to return for Sony today. ReCode reported Friday that investigators were looking into whether attackers were hired by North Korea, possibly in retaliation for the upcoming Sony Movie “The Interview” a comedy about an attempt to assassinate North Korea’s Supreme Leader. North Korea has called the movie With Seth Rogan and James Franco, an act of war.

For the first time ever, Google has overtaken Apple in sales to US schools. 9 to 5 Google comments on an IDC report which estimates Google shipped 715,500 Chromebooks to US schools and colleges in Q3 2014, while Apple shipped 702,000 iPads in Q3. IDC says the lower cost of Chromebooks is a huge factor, as well as the full keyboard. The Financial Times points out that Chromebooks have gone from zero to 25 percent of the educational market in two years. Apple iTunes store still has more educational apps, 75,000 at last count.

A 2005 lawsuit against Apple alleging antitrust for failing to support non-Apple DRM’ed music on iPods finally goes to trial this week. Apple argues their software upgardes were not meant to break DRM, but merely to improve the user experience. The trial will feature a deposition of Steve Jobs recorded before he died. Apple no longer carried DRM on its own songs, never prevented un-DRMd songs from iPods and no longer makes classic iPods.

We reported on rumors that sounded pretty certain that Samsung Co-CEO JK Shin was going to be demoted. Well good news JK Shin, GigaOm and the WSJ report JK Shin will remain in charge of mobile as Co-CEO with the two other CEOs. There were some position changes in the mobile division, including the removal of DJ Lee as head of sales and marketing for Mobile.

The Next Web reports that Intel has acquired Canadian identity management service PasswordBox for an undisclosed amount. The product lets users log into websites and apps without having to enter or remember passwords. The product will now be part of Intel’s security group.

News From You:

starfuryzeta sent us The Verge article about a curious coincidence in relation to the Sony hack last week. Watermarked DVD quality copies of Sony Pictures films Fury, Annie, Mr. Turner and Still Alice appeared on torrent websites shortly after the attack. A Sony rep would not confirm that the videos came from the leak but said Sony is working closely with law enforcment to address it. Screeners have been showing up in torrents for a long time but it is curious to see five Sony movies only one of which is even in theaters yet, show up so close to the attack.

KAPT_Kipper sent us the Torrent Freak report that Kim Dotcom has defeated efforts by the US government to send him back to a New Zealand jail. An Auckland district judge ruled that bail should not be revoked because there was no evidence Dotcom had secret assets or posed a flight risk while he fights extradition to the United States. The judge did ban Dotcom from traveling by helicopter or by sea (hopefully in a boat) unless that transport is via public service, and said he must visit a police station twice a week while on bail (up from once a week).

spsheridan submitted the Ars Technica article that the Department of Justice as turned to a federal law called the All Writs Act to order Apple to assist law enforcement in recovering data from phones. Judges in a federal court in Oakland, California and District court in San Jose, California both ordered Apple provide reasonable technical assistance to obtain unencrypted data but stated specifically that Apple was not required to decrypt. Jonathan Mayer, a lecturer at Stanford Law pointed out to Ars that the All Writs Act is often used to compel assistance with unlocking a phone and some language of the order is provided by Apple itself.

Discussion Links: Cyber Monday, la la, la la la la.

https://www.yahoo.com/tech

http://www.cnet.com/news/did-thanksgiving-and-black-friday-online-sales-soar-or-sink/

http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/01/u-s-thanksgiving-black-friday-sales-break-1b-total-holiday-spend-online-will-be-89b/?ncid=rss

http://www.wired.com/2014/12/amazon-reveals-robots-heart-epic-cyber-monday-operation/

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/01/business/thanksgiving-weekend-sales-at-stores-and-online-slide-11-percent.html?_r=0

http://www.geekwire.com/2014/online-spending-exceeds-1-billion-thanksgiving-black-friday-record-traffic-coming-mobile/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/quickerbettertech/2014/12/01/why-today-is-a-terrible-day-for-online-merchants/

Pick of the Day:  LazyGameReviews via Randy Strye

Hi Tom! One of your many, many bosses here  I’d like to suggest a YouTube channel as a daily pick. I’ve been watching (and supporting on Patreon) LazyGameReviews for quite some time now. He’s not just another YouTube video game reviewer. Along with reviewing classic, obscure PC games, he has many videos discussing collecting of classic PC games, videos about strange, classic PC peripherals (or as he calls them “Oddware”), and most recently (and what made me think of you!) a show about tech history, the first being about the Osborne and the most recent being about Digital Research. Keep up the great work. Thanks for making my daily commute more bearable!

Plug of the Day: “What’s a Poor Normal To Do?” at the DTNS store

The DTNS store has a new item! One the one Friday day that Len Peralta couldn’t join us, Producer Jennie filled in and drew “What’s a Poor Normal to Do?” Darren Kitchen asked her to put it in the store, so now it is there. You can also buy other cool DTNS things in the store.

Tuesday’s guests: Patrick Beja and Justin Robert Young will join us! 

Just Tom today looking over the headlines on the Black Friday holiday. Full show returns on Monday.

MP3

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

Justin Robert Young on today to talk about the Sony attackers and whether games should be excused for shipping when broken.

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: Justin Robert Young, co-host of Night Attack, Weird Things podcasts

Headlines:

Sources tell Bloomberg Sony is developing a watch with an e-ink-like screen on the face on watchbands. It;s one of the products set to come out of Sony’s business creation division set up by CEO Kaz Harai this year to encourage innovation. The division also is developing something called MESH which uses small blocks with sensors, LEDs and buttons to allow rapid prototyping. The watch may come out next year according to Bloomberg’s sources.

CNET reports the US Mission to the European Union has made a statement regarding the possibility that the EU would explore breaking up Google under antitrust regulations. The Mission emailed the Wall Street Journal and noted concern with the proposal, saying, “It is important that the process of identifying competitive harms and potential remedies be based on objective and impartial findings and not be politicized.” Additionally Ars Technica reports US House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte wrote to European members objecting to the plans as did Senators Ron Wyden and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Reps. Dave Camp and Sander Levin. And a THIRD letter was signed by 12 members of US Congress led by Rep. Anna Eshoo.

But the EU isn’t leaving Google alone. BloombergBusinessWeek reports the EU’s Article 29 Working Party will publish guidelines this week recommending search engines like Google apply right to be forgotten requests to all versions of its search engine available in Europe, including the .com domain. The group also rebuked Google for notifying news outlets when story links were removed.
The guidelines aren’t legally binding, but national regulators can use them to exert pressure on Google to follow them.

Recode reports that Amazon has reduced the price of its Fire Phone to $199 unlocked, a $250 price cut off the already reduced phone. The original unlocked price was $649. Amazon is also including a year of free Amazon Prime which normally costs $99. An Amazon Fire phone on a two year contract? Still 99 cents.

TechCrunch reports the Global Web Index ranks Tumblr as the fastest growing social network with 120% growth in active users over the last six months. Pinterest is second at 11% and Instagram now third at 64%. Facebook is almost flat at 2%. Twitter grew 26%. The news for Facebook is better in growth of mobile app usage. Snapchat is tops at 56% followed by Facebook Messenger and again in third place, Instagram.

Still wondering if stickers is a good business model for messaging apps? Back in April, Japanese instant messaging app Line launched the Creators Market, where its users could make and sell their own stickers- large, sometimes animated emoji. Tech Crunch reports today that Line has sold more than $30 million in stickers from independent creators during the market’s first six months of business. Close to 36 million sticker packs have been bought from the market, from a total base of 270,000 creators.

The Next Web reports Google continues to expand its offering in Cuba. Adding to the previously launched Chrome browser there, Google is launching Google Play and Google Analytics in Cuba today. Both apps have to be free to avoid violating US restrictions on exports to Cuba. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt believes that empowering citizens with information tools is the best way to encourage the country to modernize.

CNET reports Huawei is partnering with South Korean mobile telecommunication companies — SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus — to establish 5G networks. Official standards for 5G havne’t been set yet but we’re talking speeds around 1000 times faster than LTE by 2020. Huawei is considering building an R&D center in South Korea.

The Verge reports that NASA astronauts aboard the International Space station became the first people to print a 3-D object in space. The printer was installed aboard the ISS last week by NASA commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore, and was used to produce a replacement plastic face-plate for the 3-D printer itself. Because if you’re an astronaut traveling to Mars, you might need to 3-D print another 3-D printer someday. The parts printed will be sent back to earth in 2015 to check difference between manufacturing in space versus earth.

News From You:

habichuelacondulce passes along a Gizmodo report that Google’s new Times Square billboard is very large. The billboard promotes the Android operating system and used 24 million LED megapixels, at a cost of $2.5 million for four weeks. The billboard is interactive. Passerbys can climb up on a platform and play games using a 20 foot Android avatar created by Google’s Androidify website or app.

MacBytes submitted Ben Gilbert’s Engadget post form a couple days ago bemoaning the launch problems that seem to come with every major video game these days, Halo Master Chief Collection’s online multiplayer fails, Assassin’s Creed Unity’s frame rate and gameplay bugs etc. Gilbert longs for the day when you could go rent the Bubsy the Bobcat cartridge and play it without issue. Gilbert worries that game manufacturers don’t care if games work right out of the box since they’ll fix the bugs with patches on day one and beyond.

Discussion Section: Sony hackers

http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/25/7281097/sony-pictures-hackers-say-they-want-equality-worked-with-staff-to-break-in

http://www.csoonline.com/article/2851649/physical-security/hackers-suggest-they-had-physical-access-during-attack-on-sony-pictures.html

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2383278/gop-hackers-brings-sony-pictures-to-its-knees-with-ransom-demand

http://www.reddit.com/r/hacking/comments/2n9zhv/i_used_to_work_for_sony_pictures_my_friend_still/

Pick of the Day: Shuttle via Scott Foster

Hey Tom,

Love the show! I am a web developer constantly connecting to different servers to update configuration files, read logs, or just make sure certain services are running. Also we have many different versions of our code (production, staging, testing) and keeping track of ip addresses and username/passwords can be tough, until I found shuttle ( http://fitztrev.github.io/shuttle/ ).

This is a Mac only program that sits in the menubar and allows you to group servers, name them, and have different parameters when connecting to them. It has made things so much easier. Also all the code is on github so you can see how it works and contribute to the code if you’d like.

Thanks Tom!

Plug of the day:  If you were one of those people asking about a DTNS coffee mug you can get one now in the new DTNS store. And David Michael already started a sale from 12:01am on Friday until midnight Monday.

dtns.bigcartel.com
DTNSBF2014 – 10% off total order.

Future Shows: No show Thursday, because it’s Thanksgiving in the US.

Possibly a headlines only show Friday.

Monday’s guest: Rafe Needleman of Yahoo Tech

Patrick Beja joins us to discuss the Pew Research estimate of Web IQ and see how our own compares. Are you smarter than the rest of the Net? or Web? Do you know the difference?

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: Patrick Beja, host of Le Rendez-vous Tech and Pixels and The Phileas Club podcasts

Note: Tomorrow’s DTNS will be at 9am Pacific / 12 noon Eastern

Headlines:

Apple Insider reports Apple’s deal to make Google the default search engine in the Safari browser expires in early 2015. The Information says representative from Yahoo and Microsoft have already spoken with Apple’s Eddy Cue about taking over the slot. Bing is the default search engine in Siri, replacing Google in iOS7 in 2013.

PC World reports on Pew Research Center’s quiz of 1066 people who at least occasionally use the Internet, to find out how much they know about the Web. 83% of people correctly identified a photo of Bill Gates the top correct answer. Though knowing hashtags were used in Twitter was right behind at 82%. The one nobody knew was the first popular graphical Web browser. Only 9% answered ‘Mosaic.’. Next to last were the 21% of people who could correctly identify a picture of Sheryl Sandberg.

TechCrunch passes along an IDC report that full-year iPad shipments are expected to decline 12.7% this year as a result of a generally sluggish tablet market. While the overall market for tablets is still expected to grow 7.2% this is a big slowdown from the 52.5% growth of a year ago. Analysts say the problem with tablets in general is people are holding on to them longer than mobile phones. Emerging markets are the bright spot for tablet makers, expected to account for 50.6% of shipments in the market this year.

Re/code reports that Twitter has introduced digital coupons. Twitter Offers are discounts that users can claim from an advertisers tweet by linking their credit or debit card with Twitter. The users then redeem the discount by paying in-store with the linked card. Advertisers will be able to measure the monetary impact of online promotions, and Twitter will make money off promoted tweets. Not to mention have a treasure trove of registered credit cards in their database. Select retailers and food chains will start promoting their offers on Twitter today.

ZDNet passes along an announcement from the UN’s International Telecommunications Union, that the online population has grown to more than 3 billion people, up 6.6% in 2014. Two thirds of all people online live int he developing world. The numbers came in the annual Measuring the Information Society Report on November 24.

GigaOm reports that the BBC is working with Greatfire.org to use something called “collateral freedom” to attempt to bypass Chinese blocks on BBC Content. Users would be able to view the content without using a VPN or Proxy. Essentially Greatfire can direct users to BBC content hosted on CDNs like Amazon Cloudfront or Microsoft Azure. This makes it harder for the content to be blocked without blocking the entire CDN which is used by many legitimate Chinese companies.

The Next Web reports Xiaomi announced its first 4G mobile device for India called the Redmi Note 4G. It’s a dual-sim LTE phone with 8 GB of flash storage, 5.5-inch IPS 72-p display, 3100mAh removable battery a 13-mpxl rear camera and a 5-mpxl front camera. There is also a 3G version. The Redmi Note 4G goes on sale in December at Airtel retail stores and through local flash sales on Flipkart. Registration for the first flash sale on Flipkart started today at 6 PM IST. Sales for that start Dec. 2 for Rs. 8,999.

Ars Technica reports the US Federal Trade Commission has settled with Sony Computer Entertainment and advertising agency Deutsch LA over claims made in early ads for the PlayStation Vita. The complaint focused on the Remote Play feature which only worked on a few PS3 titles. One ad showed Remote Play working with the game Killzone 3 which never supported the feature. Sony will offer Vita customers who bought the system before June 1, 2012 a $25 rebate or a $50 voucher “for select games and services.”

News From You:

goofball_jones let us know about the Ars Technica article that the US FCC has stopped T-Mobile from hiding their throttling speeds. T-Mobile was exempting speed tests from the data cap on throttled users and showing them full speeds even when they were being throttled for hitting their monthly data limit. As part of the agreement T-Mobile will send text messages and add links to their website to places with accurate speed tests.

schenko passed along the CNET report that the Bloodsport gaming system that draws real blood when you take virtual damage received a body blow yesterday when Kickstarter suspended the campaign’s funding. Blood Sport did not respond to CNET inquiries, and Kickstarter said their policy is not to comment on project suspensions.

Satrfuryzeta sent in the Verge article about a volunteer group of Samsung engineers developing a second generation of the company’s EYECAN technology designed to allow people to navigate a computer interface with their eyes. v solts in under a computer monitor and allows the user to highlight with a look and click with a blink. It’s meant specifically for users with injuries or advanced disease. Samsung does not plan to commercialize the product which costs about $500 to make. The company plans to opens source the design.

Discussion Section:  Pew Pew Pew IQ!

http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/11/25/web-iq/

http://www.pewinternet.org/quiz/web-iq-quiz/

Calendar: 

Pick of the Day: Crashplan via Tom

Plug of the day:  If you were one of those people asking about a DTNS coffee mug you can get one now in the new DTNS store. And David Michael already started a sale from 12:01am on Friday until midnight Monday.

dtns.bigcartel.com
DTNSBF2014 – 10% off total order.

Wednesday’s guest:  Justin Robert Young! At 9am!

Nicole Spag is on the show. We’ll explain what we know about the Regin spyware and how video game blood can help the Red Cross.

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: Nicole Spagnuolo, podcaster, Ladies of Leet, Nerd Parents

Headlines:

Symantec released a whitepaper report detailing a sophisticated piece of spyware called Regin that was active from 2008-2011 and reappeared in 2013. Regin is a platform of unknown origin and not even all its pieces have been discovered. Its infection method is a mystery although one instance of using Yahoo Instant Messenger as a vector was documented. It allows for customization based on the targets and can employe Remote Access Trojans, keyloggers, screenshots and basically every bad thing you can think of. It has mostly been discovered in Russia and Saudi Arabia and mostly targets individuals, small businesses and telecoms. Kaspersky also released their findings on Regin including evidence that it may have been responsible for the attack on researcher Jean-Jacque Quisquater.

TechCrunch reports Samsung Galaxy S5 sales have underpeformed expectations by about 40% this year. The Wall Street Journal reports Samsung may demote Mobile Leader and Co-CEO JK Shin back to just head of the mobile unit. That would put Co-CEO and head of home appliance and TV, BK Soon supervising mobile as well. Samsung’s third co-CEO Kwon Oh-hyon would remain overseeing the semiconductor and display panel business. Markets like China have been seeing sales of Samsung mobile devices fall.

The Verge reports T-Mobile added new services to its zero-rating of music services. Google Play Music Xbox Music, Live365, and SoundCloud are among the 14 services added to T-Mobile’s Music Freedom feature. T-Mobile says its goal is to include every streaming music service in  the program. The plan exempts music services from counting against T-Mobile’s monthly data limits.

Apple Insider reports that downloads from Apple’s iOS App store reached an all time high of 7.8 million downloads per day in October. Mobile tracking firm Fisku crunched the numbers and found a 42 percent increase from the previous month among the top 200 free iOS apps tracked by the company. I think you all know why this happened in October. Apple released its iPhone 6, 6 Plus and a new operating system iOS 8.

Engadget points out the Torrent Freak article that watchmakers Omega, Panerai, Swatch and Tissot are sending takedown requests to sites hosting smartwatch faces that allegedly violate “trademark, copyright and design rights”. Fighting watch face piracy has just begun people. And remember one lost watch sale due to watch face piracy can mean thousands of dollars. If the one watch cost thousands of dollars.

News From You:

metalfreak passes along an announcement from Creative Commons.org that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will now require all of their grant-funded research to be made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY) This means that Gates Foundation materials must be discoverable and accessible online, immediately and without an embargo period and that the data underlying published research will also be immediately open. The goal, according to a Gates Foundation spokesperson, is to speed up the sharing of data that might help other scientists and health experts. The new policy takes effect January 1, 2015, but there will be a two year transition period for research which is in the process of being published in expensive medical journals with embargo restrictions.

johnsie776 posted the Engadget article that the same filings that revealed Ford, Bank of America and Visa were meeting with the FCC about net neutrality show some more expected companies meeting as well. Cisco CEO John Chambers called Wheeler to endorse proposed net neutrality rules earlier this year. Chief Comcast lobbyist Kathy Zachem, meanwhile, gave the FCC’s top lawyer advance notice of Republican objections to the proposal. Wheeler also spoke with current NCTA president and former FCC chair Michael Powell. The anit-Wheeler. as Wheeler is former NCTA president and NOW FCC Chair. Very cozy ain’t it?

spsheridan sent the Verge article in repeating a WSJ report that the FAA’s forthcoming rules on commercial use of drones would require all operators to have a pilot’s license and limit operations to daylight hours. Pilots would also have to operate the drones below 400 feet and within line of sight at all times. The rules would apply to commercial use of drones no matter what the size or weight.

starfuryzeta passes along a USA today report that Apple and Bono are collaborating again on RED,for a two-week charity campaign. Apple and RED have teamed up regularly since the red edition of the iPod Nano back in 2006. This time Apple approached the designers of some of its most popular app-store purchase to see if they would modify their apps to raise money for RED, Bono’s charity which fights the spread of HIV/AIDS. First time downloaders of the apps will see their money go directly to RED; those who’ve already purchased the app will be able to make in-game purchases to support RED.

F1Ben passes along a Wall Street Journal report that movie rental company Redbox is raising the rental price of a DVD by at least 25% as of December 2nd. A one night rental of a DVD will now cost $1.50. That’s right. THIRTY WHOLE CENTS! The price of a one night Blu-Ray rental will increase 33% to $2 a night. Redbox will also launch a recommendation engine similar to help customers pick a movie, and they plan on more efficient stocking of machines (aka fewer choices).

Discussion Section: Regin Spyware

https://gigaom.com/2014/11/24/groundbreaking-state-spyware-targeted-airlines-and-energy-firms/

http://recode.net/2014/11/23/symantec-uncovers-sophisticated-stealthy-computer-spying-tool/

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/11/24/secret-regin-malware-belgacom-nsa-gchq/

http://www.symantec.com/content/en/us/enterprise/media/security_response/whitepapers/regin-analysis.pdf

https://securelist.com/files/2014/11/Kaspersky_Lab_whitepaper_Regin_platform_eng.pdf

Calendar: Dum-Dum. Dum-Dum. Dummmmm-Dum-Dum…

A trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens is coming to “a small number” of US theaters this Friday November 28th. Regal Cinemas was so excited they announced the trailer BEFORE JJ Abrams. Then there was a great disturbance in The Force, as if a million other theaters cried out in terror and Regal was suddenly silenced. but unlike Alderaan they’re not silent anymore. a list of thirty theaters has been announced by Lucasfilm.

Pick of the Day: Channel Frederator via Rob Jennings

Cartoon conspiracy theories, conspiracy theories from your favorite cartoons when you were a kid!

Like was sponge bob squarepants and friends created from a weapon bomb testing to did the flintstones and jetsons live at the same time period ? This series goes over the facts, to find out the truth, even from the writers / creators themselves

Tuesday’s guest: Patrick Le Beja