Ken Denmead is on the show. We’ll chat about how MIT researchers can reconstruct audio from a bag of potato chips behind soundproof glass. Also a little on the overreaction to NASA and the propellant-free microwave drive.

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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes
Today’s guests:  Ken Denmead, Grand Nagus at GeekDad.com

Headlines

Not a good 24 hours for Samsung. First Canalys announces its data showed Xiaomi shipped just less tan 15 million smartphone units in China in Q2, taking the top spot away from Samsung which shipped 13.2 million in the country. That was barely enough to stay in front of Lenovo. Then Counterpoint Research claims Micromax has passed Samsung in India to take the top spot in mobile phone market share with 16.6% for Micromax to Samsung’s 14%. The good news for Samsung? They still hold the SMARTphone crown in India with 25.3% to Micromax’s 19.1%.

None of the following is actually official. Techcrunch, citing a Re/Code report, says Apple has scheduled a ‘big media event’ for Tuesday September 9th, at which Apple is likely to unveil its next generation iPhone. Here’s what the rumor roundup has rustled so far: Phones with 4.7 inch screens, and possibly also another device with a 5.5 inch display. The new iPhone *may* use the new A8 processors, *could* be all metal, *might* have temperature and humidity sensors, and could *possibly* support for near-field communications. Bloomberg And Wall Street Journal are also reporting the September 9th date.

Reuters reports Blackberry has sent a memo to its employees saying restructuring is done and the company is back on track to be cash flow positive by the end of the year. In other words, if you’re still working here, your job is safe for now. BlackBerry has cut its workforce by 60% over the last three years. 

GigaOm reports Justin.TV has shut down after seven years.  Existing members have until September 5 to transfer their accounts to Twitch. Archived video is not available. Justin had shut its archives down June 15. The company now solely exists as Twitch which had 50 million unique viewers in July and is rumoured to have agreed to sell to Google.

According to Tom’s Guide, a new device called Navdy can sit on your dashboard and project maps, images and text on to a 5 inch flip-up glass screen. The projected image is transparent and appears to float six feet ahead of the driver, and I quote “so it doesn’t distract.” The device can pair with your smartphone to make calls and stream music, and plugs into a car’s OBD II port for power. Navdy will ship in early 2015 for pre-order price of $299, with future Navdy’s selling for $499. In their video, LonelySandwhich assured me its safe because pilots use a similar thing. Thanks Adam. The Daily Tech News Show is now accepting suggestions on how this could possibly be safe. 

ReCode reports Microsoft confirmed Tuesday it has hired former Qualcomm executive Peggy Johnson to head up business development. Johnson will start Sept. 1 as executive VP of global business development, reporting to CEO Satya Nadella. Johnson was most recently heading global marketing and Qualcomm Labs.

Ars Technica reports that 17-year-old Joshua Rogers of Melbourne has discovered another way to spoof a browser cookie to bypass PayPal’s two factor authentication. The procedure involves using the process that links eBay to Paypal accounts. An attacker would still need to know the victim’s userid and password. Rogers, a whitehat hacker, says he reported the vulnerability to PayPal June 5 but received no response. 

News From You:

tm204 submitted the MIT News post that researchers from MIT, Microsoft and Adobe will present findings at SIGGRAPH on how to reconstruct audio from video of certain objects. One experiment recorded video of a potato chip bag from 15 feet away behind soundproof glass. An algorithm interprets minute vibrations on the bag to reconstruct the audio. While most of the experiments required high quality video of up to 6,000 fps to detect the vibrations, the researchers also figured out how to exploit sensors in 60fps consumer camera, to detect lower quality but still usable audio. None of the experiments could interpret the audio in real time. One capture took two hours to process. 

Hurmoth posted the Ars Technica article that Aereo is still fighting. We know Aereo argues they should be allowed to pay the compulsory license to continue operating. Another argument asks permission to continue to provide recorded video since in oral arguments the Supreme court indicated that did not violate Plaintiffs’ public performance rights. While US District Judge Alison Nathan rejected Aereo’s emergency motion on these arguments, she ordered both sides to file papers in support of their positions over the next five weeks.

SpydrChick pointed out the Dvice story that the IEEE has released a new official standard for 802.22 that can cover 12,000 square miles. The standard is designed to take advantage of spectrum from 54MHz to 698MHz opened up by the shutdown of analog TV. In theory the standard will supposedly be able to broadcast data at up to 22 Mbps 62 miles from a single base station over WRANs (wireless regional area networks).

MacBytes passes along an Engadget reports that the DAWN OF THE ROBOTIC EXOSKELETON IS UPON US! Sort of. South Korean carmaker Daewoo has been testing a robotic suit that allows shipyard workers carry objects as heavy as 66 pounds with ease by putting all the load on the machine at least for three hours the battery lasts. Daewoo hope that the exoskeleton will eventually hold up to 220lbs, just as soon as they figure out how to cope with slippery floors and twisting movements. So no moonwalking in the exoskeleton, people.

Pick of the Day: Pluto.tv via Chris

Hey Tom and Jennie, love the show. Just discovered pluto.tv – a cool app to watch video online. Over a hundred curated channels in a nicely organized channel guide for that “lean back” experience. Now with chromecast support on Android, this is a nice pick for folks just looking for a variety of queued specialty content online. I can’t speak for the rights clearances or how these channels are legally vetted but I thought it was worth sharing… maybe something of interest for the cordkillers podcast as well.

Plug of the Day:  The Sword and Laser Anthology collects 20 amazing stories from new writers in the Sword and Laser book club audience. 10 SciFi and 10 fantasy stories with an introduction by Patrick Rothfuss. Get a copy at swordandlaser.com/store      

Wednesday’s guest: Jessica Naziri

Todd Whitehead is on the show. We’ll talk about the line between your privacy and Google’s obligation to fight child porn. Is it OK to passively scan your email attachements?

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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guests:  Todd Whitehead of Alpha Geek Radio

Headlines

According to TechCrunch, Square, the company that makes mobile credit card readers, has acquired food delivery service Caviar for a reported 90 million dollars in stock. Square launched its own food-ordering service earlier this year, but only allowed customers to order food for pick-up. Caviar provides delivery for restaurants. Producer Jennie has done some research, and can confirm the ability to order an ounce of actual Osetra caviar from Caviar exists only in New York for now. In related news, producer Jennie is now very hungry. For caviar. No Jennie we cannot have a ‘Jennie gets paid in caviar’ level added to the Patreon.

GigaOm passes along a Xinhua report that the Beijing Youth Daily says a procurement list for governmental security software suppliers now only includes Chinese vendors. Symantec of the US and Kaspersky of Russia have been removed from the list. However it may not be as bad as it looks. A Symantec representative told Reuters “It is important to note that this list is only for certain types of procurement and Symantec products are not banned by the Chinese government.”

The BBC reports a 41-year-old Houston man was arrested on charges of possessing and promoting child pornography after Google sent a tip to the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Houston Police’s David Nettles implied Google identified child porn int he man’s Gmail account. Google’s Eric Schmidt wrote int he Daly Mail last year that Google will actively removes such images from its services. A similar case happened in 2013 when a man was caught sharing illegal images through an AOL email account.

The Verge passes along a Wall Street Journal report that the Department of Transportation plans to propose a rule this December that would prohibit making and receiving in-flight cell phone calls. The ban seems to be based on workplace factors for flight crew not because of any technical reason.

ReCode reports Comcast will allow low-income customers with outstanding bills older than a year to to sign up for its $10 a month Internet plan. The plan called Internet Essentials is for families with at least one child that qualifies fro the US school lunch program. Comcast also announced it will waives the first six months of fees for new customers in the program. 

News From You

spsheridan submitted the Reuters story that security researcher Ruben Santamarta says he has figured out how to hack the firmware of satellite communications equipment on passenger jets partly through using WiFi and inflight entertainment systems. Santamarta will present his findings Thursday at the Black Hat security conference this week. His procedures have only been tested in IOActive’s Madrid laboratory, and might be difficult to replicate in the real world. 

mranthropology posted the CNET article about a printout of a screenshot of 4Chan post fetching a BID of $90,900 on eBay. The post from Anonymous reads “Art used to be something to cherish. Now literally anything could be art. This post could be art.” A screenshot of the eBay listing of Artwork by Anonymous — had collected more than $50,000 in bids, but was then taken down. 

KAPT_Kipper submitted the Verge article that Elon Musk seems a little spooked after reading the book ‘Superintelligence’ by Nick Bostrom. On Saturday, less than two hours after experienceing a Guardians of the Galaxy induced euphoria, Musk was brought back down to Earth somehow, writing “We need to be super careful with AI. Potentially more dangerous than nukes.” Sunday the man behind Spacex and Tesla Motors was still in a funk writing, “Hope we’re not just the biological boot loader for digital superintelligence. Unfortunately, that is increasingly probable.” 

porkchop_d_clown passes along Gizmodo reports that Japan wants to create a military-based project to monitor space debris. As many as 3,000 individual pieces of trash orbit the earth, moving at speeds up to 22,000 miles per hour. The new force will track debris and share that data with the United States, but the program will also monitor military activity in space. As for what to do with the junk, in January Japan announced a plan to launch a space garbage collection net by 2019.  

Pick of the Day:  Portable USB battery pack via Jamie in Vancouver, Canada.

I just came across this today while researching for a friend. It’s a portable USB battery pack for charging your devices on the go. It packs 11200mAh into its tiny form factor, and you can charge two devices at full speed simultaneously. It supports smartphones, as well as tablets. Best part is the price, only $40! I might be getting one of these for myself, and thought I would share this with you and the listeners of DTNS. Thanks again for an awesome podcast!

Plug of the Day: We’re getting some great pictures from listeners wearing their Daily Tech News Show T-Shirts. There’s still plenty of time to send us a picture of you in YOUR DTNS t-shirt for our special end of year project. Wait, you don’t have a DTNS-T? Well check out Slashloot.com for the very cool shirt with the very cool logo by Mustafa from thepolarcat.com’s logo available in white, black and Ash. Look in the podcasts section.

Tuesday’s guest: Ken Denmead, Grand Nagus at GeekDad.com

Darren Kitchen is on to bust some FUD about the BadUSB. What DO we need to be concerned with. Plus Len Peralta illustrates the show!

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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guests:  Darren Kitchen of hak5.org & Len Peralta, the artist also know as lenperaltastore.com

Headlines

ReCode reports Apple has officially closed their $3 billion deal to acquire the experience that is Beats Electronics. Apple wrote on a welcome page “We’re delighted to be working with the team to elevate that experience even further. And we can’t wait to hear what’s next.” What’s next for roughly 200 Beats workers is their positions become temporary. Online ordering of Beats products has shifted to the Apple store.

TechCrunch reports HP has teamed up with fashion designer Michael Bastian and shopping site Gilt to sell their snazzy new smartwatch. The watch is custom built and syncs with an app for iOS or Android to push email and text notices to the watch. It’ll also offer music control, as well as weather, sports and stock price updates. But its really all about looks. It has a 44mm circular watchface with straps available in brown leather, a green nylon and black rubber Price hasn’t been set but it will ship this autumn. 

Reuters reports hundreds of Chinese employees of Microsoft’s recently acquired Nokia handset business protested against layoffs at a Beijing research center and factory that currently employs 2,400 people. Microsoft intends to reduce the workforce at the site but not close it entirely. 

If you have more than 3,000 readers on your blog and you operate in Russia, you’ll need to register with telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor under a new law. GigaOm passes along that Izvestia reports Roskomnadzor has sent its first batch of notices to bloggers who must also disclose their true identity, avoid hate speech,“extremist calls” and obscene language. They also must verify any information before publishing it. In response LiveJournal now only reports 2,500+ on its readership stats page. 

According to Engadget, Ebay published their diversity report showing 42 percent of its employees are women. Women account for 28% of leadership roles and 24% of tech jobs. Ebay’s female percentage is slightly larger than Pinterest (40%), Yahoo (37%), Google (30%) and Twitter (30%). The number are smaller when it comes to some ethnicities. 7% of Ebay’s total employees self-identify as Black, and 5% Hispanic. 55 percent of people in tech roles at the company identify as Asian. 

Tired of Europe always going after Google lately? Now they get a break. An Austrian privacy campaign group called Europe-v-Facebook is going after Facebook Ireland filing suit in Vienna claiming the social media giant violated Austrian privacy laws by tracking users on third party websites, and the company’s non-compliance with data access requests and for Facebook’s alleged participation in the Prism data collection program run by the U.S.NSA… among others. 

Android has been cleaning up in marketshare by shipping but what about actual usage? Net Applications tracks just such a stat and for the first tim Android has topped iOS in their survey of usage grabbing 44.62% of worldwide usage to iOS’s 44.19%. Windows Phone took a nice jump to 2.49% of usage.

News From You

dan_linder submitted the Wired Uk story that British scientist Roger Shawyer’s EmDrive may have got some validation from NASA. The controversial drive allegedly converts electric power into thrust, without the need for propellant by bouncing microwaves around in a closed container. Critics say that violates the conservation of momentum. Last year a Chinese team replicated the results to little fanfare. Now US scientist Guido Fetta has built his own version of a microwave thruster, which NASA agreed to test at Johnson Space Center. The test results were presented on July 30 at the 50th Joint Propulsion Conference in Cleveland, Ohio. The drive produced 30 to 50 micronewtons of thrust. Small, but positive.

the_big_endian wanted us to know that on the scrap heap of Google tech that includes Google Reader, Google Health and Knol, we should make room for…the Google Barge? The Next Web passes along the Portland-Press Herald report that the barge, which had been intended as a showroom for the Google X division, was towed into Portland Harbor last October, only to be sold to an international barging company. The four-story building built out of shipping containers will be dismantled. However a similar mystery barge docked in Stockton, California remains untouched. 

Pick of the Day: Keysduplicated.com

Joellen writes in: “I wanted to send in a Pick of the day… but it may be more of a discussion topic since it seems a bit controversial at the moment. The pick would be Keysduplicated.com, a service that lets you make copies of your keys by taking pictures with your phone. I’ve used it several times now to get copies of keys, as well as send copies to AirBnB guests who will be staying at my place. It’s worked great thus far, and has saved me many trips to the hardware store. The service, however, has gotten some mixed press recently. Most of it seems like nightly news “scare-mongering”, but I’d be interested to hear your opinion. At the very least, I think its something your audience should know about.”

Pick of the Day: Keys Duplicated via Joellen:

Joellen writes in: “I wanted to send in a Pick of the day… but it may be more of a discussion topic since it seems a bit controversial at the moment. The pick would be Keysduplicated.com, a service that lets you make copies of your keys by taking pictures with your phone. I’ve used it several times now to get copies of keys, as well as send copies to AirBnB guests who will be staying at my place. It’s worked great thus far, and has saved me many trips to the hardware store. The service, however, has gotten some mixed press recently. Most of it seems like nightly news “scare-mongering”, but I’d be interested to hear your opinion. At the very least, I think its something your audience should know about.”

Plug of the Day: 

Plug of the day: Like tech history? I’ve teamed up with Scott Johnson to put out monthly looks at what happened in history this month. For 99 cents you get what happened on each day of the month that helped make the tech we sue today, plus illustrations from Scott Johnson. Check them out for 99 cents each at tommerrittbooks.com or just search Amazon.        

Monday’s guest: Todd Whitehead of Alpha Geek Radio

Patrick Beja joins us to share some French perspective on Iliad possibly buying T-Mobile USA and why BadUSB makes him afraid of everything.
*Note: Earlier Thursday a version of the MP3 was posted with the last few minutes of the show missing. The file has been removed and a new file replaces that one here. Apologies – Tom

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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Patrick Beja!

Headlines

Ars Technica passes along the Wall Street Journal report that French Telecom Iliad, made an offer for T-Mobile USA, less than a week ago. Iliad would reportedly pay $15 billion in cash to buy 56.6% of T-Mobile USA. Softbank, owner of Sprint, also would like to acquire T-Mobile for something around $30 billion for the whole thing.

And T-Mobile is only getting more valuable. In quarterly earnings posted Thursday, T-Mobile USA added 1.5 million customers, for the fifth straight quarter of subscriber gains more than a million. The company posted a net profit of $391 million, or 48 cents per share, boosted by a spectrum license deal with Verizon.

Wired reports researchers from Security Research Labs in Berlin will present a USB vulnerability at Black Hat next week. BadUSB is a hack that replaces a USB controllers chip making it virtually undetectable. Malware on a PC can compromise any USB connected device and likewise any infected USB device can compromise any computer it’s plugged into. That includes mice, keyboards, USB sticks and even cell phones. USB firmware is not code-signed making it easier to spoof.

GigaOm reports Mark Zuckerberg’s Internet.org foundation has introduced an app in Zambia that allows limited Internet access for free. Through a partnership with India’s Bharti Airtel, custmers can us an Android app or website to access services like Wikipedia, AccuWeater, Google Search, jobs portals, and Facebook Messenger among others, at no cost, except to the idea of net neutrality in Zambia possibly.

BBC reports Samsung’s profits fell 20% in Q2, hurt by slowing smartphone and tablet sales and a strong Korean Won. Samsung reported profit of 6.25 trillion won ($6.1bn; £3.6bn) down from 7.77 trillion won a year ago. The company warned that “prospects for growth remain unclear.”

Here’s why growth prospects might be unclear. Smaller device makers are eating Samsung’s lunch. The Next Web reports Strategy Analytics mobile marketshare numbers for Q2 show Samsung marketshare falling from 32.6% to 25.2% on declining shipments. Apple fella couple points to 11.9% despite rising shipments. The ones to watch are Huawei, Lenovo and Xiaomi, all jumping above 5%. LG fell from 5.2% to 4.9. Oh and all those phones run Android for the most part. Android now has 84.6% of the market up from 80.2% while every other OS fell.

Ars Technica reports good news for Sony as Quarterly earnings posted a profit of ¥69.7 billion (about $677 million) up nearly 97% from a year ago. The PS4 powered most of the turnaround sending the Game & Network division from ¥16.4 billion (about $160 million) loss last year to a ¥4.3 billion (about $42 million) profit this time around. Spider-Man helped too as Sony Pictures film distribution more than doubled its earnings over last year. More revenue may be coming in through the PS4 as Sony launches it’s on demand PlayStation Now service in the US and Canada with a 100 titles available from $3 to $15 depending on the amount of time you want to play a title.

A friend passed along a press release from ViaWest, a large operator of data centers in North America. Seems Shaw, the only slightly-less-despised-than-Rogers cableco in Canada has purchased ViaWest for $1.2 billion. ViaWest is one of the largest privately held data centre infrastructure, cloud technology and managed IT solutions in North America, with 27 locations in eight states. For you US listeners, imagine Comcast buying a big chunk of the Internet it doesn’t already own and you get the picture.

The Verge reports on a Reuters report that the European Commission is preparing an anti-trust case against Google’s Android mobile platform. According to Reuters’ sources, European regulators have sent questionnaires to telecom companies and phone manufacturers, to see if Google is pressuring them to use Android. Add this to the still unresolved European anti-trust suit over the the web giant’s search practices, and Google may soon be applying for the right to be forgotten by the European government.

GigaOm reports Microsoft lost a fight in US Federal Court in New York Thursday to prevent US law enforcement to access data held on servers in Ireland without requesting permission from the Irish government. U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruled the search warrant served requires Microsoft to hand over the data requested regardless of where it was stored. Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith said Microsoft will promptly appeal.

News From You

Hurmoth sends along the Mashable report that FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has sent a letter to Verizon Wireless asking why the company will slow down the top 5% of unlimited plan users on its 4G LTE Networks. Wheeler wrote, “‘Reasonable network management’ concerns the technical management of your network; it is not a loophole designed to enhance your revenue streams.” All major US carriers throttle top users of their 3G networks. A recent GAO report found that wirless carriers find that data caps help ease congestion. The same report did not find that data caps helped ease congestion for wireline ISPs, but were used as revenue generators.

AllanAV sends along a CNET report that Royal College of Art graduate Julian Melchiorri has created the first man-made, biologically functional leaf. Yup it takes in carbon dioxide, water, and light and releases oxygen. In addition to creating some nice air for us to breathe here on Earth, the leaf could also create oxygen on long-duration manned space missions to Mars and beyond. When reached for comment, the photosynthetic organism said, “I am a leaf on the wind.” Too soon?

MikePKennedy posted the Engadget story that Tesla has signed a deal with Panasonic to help build the so-called Gigafactory which will attempt to make cheaper batteries for electric cars. Tesla will build the plant and maintain it, while Panasonic supplies the lithium cells, plant, machinery and manufacturing equipment. The Gigafactory is expected to produce 35GWh of cells and 50GWh of power packs by 2020.

Discussion Section:

http://www.wired.com/2014/07/usb-security/

http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/07/this-thumbdrive-hacks-computers-badusb-exploit-makes-devices-turn-evil/

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/187279-undetectable-indefensible-security-flaw-found-in-usb-its-time-to-get-your-ps2-keyboard-out-of-the-cupboard

https://www.blackhat.com/us-14/briefings.html#badusb-on-accessories-that-turn-evil

http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/07/sprint-has-competition-in-attempt-to-buy-t-mobile/

http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/frances-iliad-makes-bid-for-t-mobile-us-1406822189-lMyQjAxMTA0MDMwMTEzNDEyWj

Pick of the Day: Way of Life via Matt from Sweaty Sacramento

Matt from Sweaty Sacramento writes: “I’ve got a productivity app suggestion that, like your show, I use every day. Way of Life is an iOS app that helps you build new habits by tracking them daily. It’s essentially an automated version of the Seinfeld productivity method which has helped me a great deal in building good habits and becoming hyper productive. You can track daily completion, take notes of each habit or task, and look at trends based on your collected data to help motivate you or figure out why you might be struggling. The app also offers Dropbox syncing, note exporting, and custom reminders for each habit or task. The free version allows up to 3 tasks or habits to be track, which is a great way to start testing this method out. I quickly found myself purchasing the full version with no limits and believe it is worth the price of $4.99

Friday’s guest: Darren Kitchen & Len Peralta