The State of the Union, feeling grown up, the state of journalism, why bad people aren’t always recognized, selective law enforcement, how can success be measured, are we good at being a big society, will a robot brain turn against us? How do we decided what we’re suited for, and why we’ll soon have jobs growing organs for people in our bodies.
Download the episode at this link.
Patrick Beja and Justin Young are both in to talk about Facebook and Gabe Rivera’s wars on misleading news. We’ll discuss why both are necessary to the fight and why there’s a fight at all.
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Show Notes
Today’s guests: Patrick Beja and Justin Robert Young, DTNS Contributors
Headlines
Facebook announced it will be using user feedback to cut down the prevalence of news feed items that are hoaxes or misleading news. The news feed algorithm will downgrade Stories that are deleted by their posters in large numbers or identified in comments as hoaxes or with links to hoax-busting sites like snopes. A new option to report a story as false has also been added. Facebook does not believe this will adversely affect sites like The Onion. Area man agrees.
Microsoft will hold Windows 10 day tomorrow starting with a keynote presentation at 12 Noon. Expect to hear about unified apps on the unified OneCore, Cortana everywhere, the new Spartan browser, touch-first version of Office, PC gaming, new perceptive pixel large touchscreen, and possibly a phone-laptop hybrid and a VR Helmet code-named Project B. Mary Jo Foley writes that some of the mobile announcements will be held for later, possibly for Mobile World Congress, including the Windows 10 preview for phones. Microsoft will live stream the announcement at http://news.microsoft.com/windows10story/
GigaOm reports Ubuntu has a minimal version of Linux for the Internet of Things. “Snappy” Ubuntu Core already has the Open Source Robits Foundation, drone-maker Erle Robotics and connected hub maker NinjaBlocks on board. Core keeps each part of the OS isolated making it perfect for containerized apps like Docker. It will also have an app store.
Wired has an excellent long read about a telecommunications nonprofit called Rhizomatica, which is trying to bring cellular service to small towns in Mexico that have been passed over by the country’s dominant telecom Telmex. Founder Peter Bloom uses Open BSC, an open source cell network developed by a German developer named Harald Welte. Here’s how it works: Communities pay 120,000 pesos (about $8,000 USD) for equipment and installation. Subscribers pay 30 pesos (about $2) a month for local calls and texts, and the town keeps any profit left over after paying for electricity and maintenance. Rhizomatica can also hook up the town’s network to a voice-over-IP connection, which allows users to make very cheap long-distance calls to Mexico City and even the US. It’s not a perfect system, but it’s a great article. Go read it!
PC World reports on HP’s announcement of several new tablets for professionals. The ProSlate 12 is a 12.-3 inch display, the new Concore Gorilla Glass and the Duet Pen that can digitize notes on paper as well as take them on the tablet. Prices start at $569. HP also announced the Pro Slate 8 a 7.9-inch tablet with a 2048 x 1536 screen and support for the Duet Pen for $449. The Pro Slate 10 EE has a 10.1-inch screen, and a micro-HDMI port, targeted at educational uses for $279. There was also the 10.1-inch ElitePad 1000 G2 Rugged Tablet, which starts at $1,599.
“Flashing” or “sinpa” is the practice of calling and hanging up as a way to indicate a message. Sort of like the app Yo. This practice in some parts of the world has become so prevalant that companies like ZipDial have started making money by sending texts and accepting hang-ups as responses. This makes for low-cost or no cost business communications. ZipDial has used it for things like Cricket Scores, political campaigns, market research and more. GigaOM reports Twitter is acquiring Zipdial for what Bloomberg estimates is around US$30 million.
News From You:
Quantum memory is hard since any interaction with the environment can erase the data. Cottage reports Ars Technica has a story on research conceived by Matthew J Sellars from The Australian National University and Jevin J. Longdell at the University of Otago in New Zealand. they along with several colleagues published a paper in Nature describing a nuclear spin that can be written to with radiofrequency radiation and insulated well enough to store quantum states for as along as six hours. To get your 6 hours of memory though, you’ll need an intense magnetic field at 2 Kelvin. So not so much the desktop memory yet.
Habichuelacondulce posted the USA Today report that at least 50 US law enforcement agencies have deployed radar device called a RANGE-R that uses radio waves to detect motion, even breathing and and can tell if individuals are within a house. The device costs about $6,000. The use of the device came to light in December during a case in Federal Appeals Court in Denver. It’s use was not material to the decision. U.S. Supreme Court has said officers generally cannot use high-tech sensors to tell them about the inside of a person’s house without first obtaining a search warrant.
Sunbun passed along a Verge report that Nintendo will close its customer loyalty program Club Nintendo. US and Canadian members will have until the end of March to collect “coins” and until the end of June to redeem them. Nintendo will also add extra merchandise to help people spend their coins. The rewards program never caught on in the US or Europe, although it was apparently successful in Japan. Nintendo of America will relaunch a new rewards program in the future.
iSting sent along a report from Tech Hive that Marriott is testing in-room access to Netflix, Hulu and Pandora, as well as other online streaming services. It’s unclear whether the service would allow users to access their own Netflix account or whether they would pay for it as part of a larger “premium internet package”. Bloomberg reports that several other hotel chains are looking at whether to make Neflix available in-room as well.
Discussion Section Links:
http://digiday.com/publishers/techmemes-gabe-rivera-tech-media-lot-intellectual-dishonesty/
http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2015/01/news-feed-fyi-showing-fewer-hoaxes/
http://www.spacex.com/news/2015/01/20/financing-round
Pick of the Day: Bitcoin Billionaire via Sachin Bahal in Toronto
Hello Tom & the DTNS Crew,
Tap … Tap… Tap… That is all you have to do in the game, Bitcoin Billionaire.
The premise of the game is that you are are a Bitcoin miner (but you aren’t not mining actual Bitcoins). It is a very simple to play game and yes the game does have in-app purchases to buy “gems” but you earn them ever so often that you won’t need to buy some. The game came out on iOS a few months ago and most recently came to Android. Caution this game can be highly addictive.
Below are the links to the game on the App Store and Google Play.
Tomorrow’s guest: Lamarr Wilson
Amazon wants to make movies but hires Woody Allen to make TV shows. Daily Motion takes on TWiTCH and GoPro goes live.
CordKillers: Ep. 54 – How Can I watch Judge Judy?
Recorded: January 19, 2015
Guest: Kristi Kates
Intro Video
Primary Target
Signal Intelligence
Gear Up
Front Lines
Under Surveillance
2014 Winter Movie Draft
http://draft.diamondclub.tv/
Dispatches from the Front
I am a cordkiller. But I used to love Aereo. I know you guys talk a lot about cable shows and prime time.
How can I watch Judge Judy? Or other day time shows?
Thurman
Student and sometimes your boss
Brian,
Please tell the National Geographic Channel how DVRs work. I tried to setup a program to record all the episodes of your upcoming series, “Hacking the System.” However, instead of each episode being called Hacking the system and then in the metadata there being an episode name each show has the name Hacking the System with a subtitle such as Hacking the System: Personal Security. As a result a series recording program only records one episode. So I have to setup an individual recording for each episode. (In your best mobster voice) I hope I don’t have an unfortunately accident and forget to record one of your episodes. That would be a shame.
Bill near Athens, Georgia
Suddenlink is my only choice for real broadband internet and cable TV and I bet they only serve markets with no competition. I live in an apartment and can’t get local channels with an indoor antenna and satellite installation is impractical. Last fall, Suddenlink dropped 24 Viacom channels including Comedy Central. I’ve been watching The Daily Show and others on free Hulu since then. Today I wanted to watch the season 2 premiere of Broad City on Comedy Central but Hulu only has season 1 so I went to Comedy Central’s web site to watch it. Viacom is blocking Suddenlink broadband customers in retaliation to Suddenlink not carrying their channels any longer. So, my only choice if I want to watch Broad City legitimately is to pay $1.99 per episode.
Municipal broadband needs to happen for real in markets with only one real broadband provider.
Joe
Not sure if you remember me. I was the guy who let you know that making the animated “Turbo FAST” for Netflix tales a long time! Well, we have another cool new show for you to check out on Amazon this time! Free of course!
It’s part of the new set of pilots. We did it in true Ultra-HD. 3048x2160p. First as far as I know for any 2D animation production. Maybe Brian will want to watch it with his kids?
Steve
You boss here – I think you need to do an entire show special on just Plex and the 101 use cases for it. Not a deep dive into setup but maybe a few viewers who are large uses of it walk through their setup and where it was the answer to a problem they had. I don’t think I go a day without saying Plex to someone. I use the HELL out of it for multiple things (Also dedicated storage array & 2 Mac Mini’s to run it all) – central media, live TV (HDHomeRun & Cable Card – I know I am a cord shaver not cutter), photo library, offline syncing, word wide accessible, usable at grandma house. The best part is wife approved and 3 & 4 year old usable. I feel people see Plex and get the basics but not understand the real power it has and how it works. In my option I think Plex / a good media manager is KEY to cord cutting.
Harrison
I have to grudgingly echo what Brian said about AT&T. I rage quit Cox a year ago, and braced myself for a new round of headaches with AT&T. But the installer showed up on time and was a total pro. Great guy, eager to talk about how everything worked, and about the future of the industry. I did have some early internet issues, but a different AT&T work crew showed up THE NEXT DAY and fixed a bad connection out at the street level. I am now paying $70 less than I was with Cox, with a far more dependable connection and better DVRs.
I’m glad somebody at ONE of these cable companies finally got a clue.
Kyle
I don’t remember this being addressed on the show or if it’s new, but UltraViolet lets you share your library with up to five other users. It’s accessed not through the UltraViolet site, but through MGo, TargetTicket, Nook, or VUDU.
I couldn’t figure out how to do it at MGo or TargetTicket (I don’t have a Nook account), but VUDU made it incredibly easy. You go to your account menu click on UltraViolet and it’s right there.
Not being able to share with family members has been one of the most frustrating things about my transition to going all digital. I think this is going to push me over the edge.
You’ve talked before about how people don’t seem to know what UltraViolet is and, seeing how this has been implemented, I’m starting to think that they’re wanting it to only be a tag.. a label or something like that. Maybe sort of like all of those logos on the back of your ATM card. I don’t know if my bank is a part of the “Star Network” or “Pulse Network” but all I care is that I stick my card in and get money. Different ATMs will give me different features (balances, transfers, etc) just like different retailers will let me do different things with my movies, but its UltraViolet providing the back end.
Maybe our problem is that we’re here at the beginning and we’re too aware of what’s going on. In a couple of years, UltraViolet might work just like our ATM cards do.
Andrew
Links
It’s Martin Luther King Jr. day in the US, so Tom gives his contributors the day off and hits the headliens regarding US infiltration into North Korea’s nets, Amazon making movies for theaters and Elon Musk’s plans for space Internet.
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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
Darren Kitchen is on the show and we’ll talk about the new Hacker’s List. Are hackers for hire always a bad thing? 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
Allison Sheridan is on the show and we’ll talk about Google Glass moving out of the lab. Is it dead? Or just beginning?
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Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.
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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 guest: Allison Sheridan, host of the NosillaCast on podfeet.com
Headlines
The Google Glass team announced on Google Plus today that the “open beta’ that has been the $1500 a pair Google Glass Explorer program will end Monday Jan. 19. Additionally Ivy Ross and her team will move out of X labs and under the supervision of Nest CEO Tony Fadell, though not as a part of Nest. The post only said “you’ll likely see future versions of Glass when they’re ready” but rumors have indicated Intel would power the next version of glass and a consumer version might be announced at Google I/O this year.
Elon Musk took to Twitter today to announce the building of a Hyperloop test track for companies and students, “most likely in Texas.” He also mentioned holding “an annual student Hyperloop pod racer competition.” The Verge reminds us a California project is building models for possible Hyperloop pods already, but Musk has been silent himself on the project for awhile.
Engadget reports on Xiaomi’s new line of device announced by CEO Lei Jun. The 5.7-inch 1080p dual-SIM Mi Note comes January 27th for CN¥2,299 (US$370) at 16 Gb or CN¥2,799 (US$450) for 64 GB. At 6.95mm thick and 161 grams it’s a touch slimmer and lighter than an iPhone 6 Plus. The Mi Note Pro will have a 2560 x 1440 display for $530 in March.
Yesterday, Reuters published an exclusive report that claimed Samsung had offered to buy Blackberry for as much as 7.5 billion dollars. Today, BlackBerry issued a press release to state plainly that they have not “engaged in discussions with Samsung with respect to any possible offer.” Also they don’t comment on rumors, and won’t comment any further on this one. So there.
CNET reports that Marriott has removed a ban on personal Wi-Fi networks in their hotels. The decision comes just three months after Marriott was fined $600,000 by the Federal Communications Commission for using the containment features of a Wi-Fi monitoring system at the Gaylord Opryland and then charging consumers, small businesses and exhibitors as much as $1,000 per device to access Marriott’s Wi-Fi network. The company claimed that it had banned personal hotspots to protect its visitors from rogue hot spots. A group of hotel chains has issued a request to the FCC for permission to block personal hotspots in order to protect its guests.
TechCrunch reports that Rdio has launched in India becoming the first International streaming service to do so. It’s not unexpected as Rdio purchased Indian streaming service Dhingana in early 2014. The premium Rdio service will be priced at 120 Rupees per month (about US$1.99) and the company will offer a free internet radio player for mobile as well.
Reuters reports China is setting up a 40 billion yuan ($6.5 billion) to support start-ups in emerging industries. The fund is expected to be established within a few weeks. China hopes to expand its small venture capital market with the fund.
Bloomberg reports Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a plan for a free Internet.org app in Colombia. Customers of mobile service Tigo will have free data access when using the Internet.org app, including a group of global and local websites with information on health, education, finance, employment and weather.
Intel reports its 4th quarter earnings today.
Analysts expect a profit of 66 cents on revenue of 14.7 billion. Strong server sales are part of the reason for Intel’s results. The focus is on whether Intel is making any headway selling chips for smartphones and tablets. Intel lost $4 billion on its wireless business in 2014 and is not expected to break even before 2016.
News From You:
spsheridan sent us the Business Insider report that the founder of the super successful website Ship Your Enemies Glitter has asked people to stop using his service. Matthew Carpenter wrote “HI guys I’m the founder of this website. Please stop buying this horrible glitter product – I’m sick of dealing with it.” Wrote one commenter “You have made your glitter-coated bed and I’m afraid you will have to lie in it.” Carpenter has suspended orders for the moment writing on the site “You guys have a sick fascination with shipping people glitter. We’ve received all orders & working through them. There was a tonne so be patient.
motang tipped us off to the WSJ report that people still use MySpace. In fact 50.6 million unique users in November, up 575% year over year. MySpace also racked up 300 million video views that month, good enough for 16th on ComScore’s Video Metrix ranking. MySpace gets a lot of visits from the 17-25 year old demographic and sees a spike on Thursday when people come to look for old pictures to use for Throwback Thursday.
Discussion Section Links: Google Glass
https://plus.google.com/+GoogleGlass/posts/9uiwXY42tvc
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30831128
Pick of the Day: My Data manager via Jamie in Beautiful BC
My data Manager is a solid app to track your data usage for your iphone/ipad/iPod Touch in real time. It tracks both your wifi and cellular data, and you are able to set your billing cycle and data cap as well. You can see a graph of your usage to see where you use the most data and get notifications when you’re getting close to your limit. Best of all it’s 100% free!
My Data Manager: http://www.mydatamanagerapp.com/
Cheers! Jamie in Beautiful BC
Tomorrow’s guests: Darren Kitchen and Len Peralta
Patrick Beja and I talk about DailyMotion’s new Twitch competitor and whether Facebook at Home can meet the desire for a ubiquitous work replacement for email.
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Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.
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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
This is how you get disappointment, and Mongolian Warriors and almost kill Shane from The Shield.
00:42 – Archer
09:56 – Marco Polo
17:31 – The Shield
28:20 – End of show
Author and robotics engineer Daniel H. Wilson chats with us about his new story/app called Mayday: Deep Space about a person trapped on a ship full of monsters. Only you can help him survive! But of course we have to ask Daniel when the robots will rise up and kill us all.
Official Website of Daniel H. Wilson
Official Site of Mayday! Deep Space
Simon Dingle joins us as we review Prime Minister David Cameron’s desire to be able to read all your SnapChat messages if necessary. Can you have a back door that bad guys won’t use?
Using a Screen Reader? click here
Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.
Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.
A special thanks to all our Patreon supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here at the low, low cost of a nickel a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!
Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!
Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
Today’s guest: Simon Dingle, broadcaster and product guy out South Africa
Headlines:
Engadget reports that Facebook has partnered with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to deliver location-specific Amber Alerts to inform users about missing or abducted children in the US. The alerts include photos of the child, license plate numbers and any other relevant information and will appear on mobile devices and desktops. Facebook was inspired to add Amber Alerts after missing children were recovered due to information posted independently by users.
PC World reports AllCast is now available for iOS users. As Android users already know, AllCast can send photos, videos and music from your mobile device to multiple devices like Xbox (360 and One), Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and certain smart TVs. The app can access anything on your camera roll as well as Google+ Dropbox and Instagram. The free version has a time limit. The $5 paid version takes away that limit and removes ads.
Windows 7 is getting old. The first sign occurred today as free tech support for the operating system has ended. That also means no new features will be added to the OS. Microsoft would rather you upgrade to Windows 8.1 please. Believe it or not Windows 7 is more than 5 years old after all. You can still pay for support through 2020 and Microsoft will continue to patch security issues.
Fujitsu has a smart ring that not only does motion control but recognizes in air handwriting. Trace letters with your fingertip in the air and motion sensors translate the movements to written characters. The ring also has an NFC reader. Engadget reports Fujitsu is conducting real world tests and hopes to have a product out before March of 2016.
Boing Boing has the tale of a man from Hong Kong who tried to cross over the Chinese border with 94 iPhones strapped to his torso, legs and groin. Customs officials stopped the man for “weird walking posture” and “joint stiffness.” I’m guessing they don’t use metal detectors at that crossing. The man was carrying iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models, which have been available for purchase at Apple Stores in China since mid-October.
El Nuevo Herald reports Cuba’s ETECSA telecom denies they would offer wiFi service in Santiago de Cuba as we had mentioned yesterday. The original report was based on an announcement from the Cuban Journalists Association. ETECSA called the information false, and said it is only offering WiFi at a technological park through the Youth Club navigation network called Tinored.
Engadget reports Uber announced it will share some of its ride data with the city of Boston. The anonymized metadata zip code tabulation area for starts and ends of trips, distance traveled, time, date and duration of trip. Boston hopes to use the data to improve city planning.
TechCrunch reports a report from appFigures indicates more new apps came to the Google Play store than the iOS app store in 2014 for the first time. Google Play developer community growth also exceeded iOS for third year. The fastest growing app category for Apple was Business while for Google it was Games. Both app stores, and Amazon ’s app store experienced growth of at least 50%.
News From You:
Philo1927 posted the Multichannel News article assessing the world’s readiness for 4K streaming. Akamai’s latest State of the INternet Report suggests 15 Mbps is required for sustained adaptive bitrate 4 K streaming. OK. How we doing? 12% of connection to Akamai arounf the world can be considered 4K ready. That’s a 32% jump from last year at this time. South Korea is most prepared with 66% of its connections ready, followed by Hong Kong, Japan, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Latvia, Sweden, Norway, Singapore and Belgium. Those last three had 21% readiness. The US as a whole is 19% ready.
HobbitfromPA sent us the Business Insider report that Amazon Studios has signed Woody Allen to create his first ever television series. The show will be a half-hour long, and available to Prime Instant Video subscribers in the US, UK and Germany. Allen got his start writing in television in the late 1950’s. He wrote monologues for The Tonight Show, and various comedy specials, including one for Sid Caesar. But Allen’s standup career began to blossom, and he began appearing on TV shows instead of writing them. Allen’s Amazon show does not yet have a title or a release date.
Pick of the Day via Joe Fruchey
My pick is the book Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold.
If you’re at all interested in technology (and you certainly are, since you’re listening to a tech news podcast!), this book is a serious eye-opener. We use these things–computers, tablets, smartphones–every day, but the vast majority of us don’t know how they work. How DO they work? How can an array of transistors play a movie on my screen?
In this book, the author takes you through the process of building a theoretical computer, starting with nothing but a flashlight. It’s very easy to understand, and is highly relevant, despite the fact that it was published 15 years ago(!).
It’s the #1 seller in Theory of Computing on Amazon, but don’t let the categorization scare you. It’s very approachable and requires no prior computing knowledge.
It is definitely my favorite book.