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

MP3

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

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

Headlines

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

News From You

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

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

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

Discussion Links:  

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pick of the Day: Alive Inside via Stephen Ewell

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

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

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

MP3

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

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, DTNS Grand High Inquisitor and host of Le Rendez-vous Tech

Headlines

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

News From You

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

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

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

Discussion Links:  Placemeter

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

http://vimeo.com/user15240420

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

http://blog.placemeter.com/

http://placemeter.com/faq

Pick of the Day: MoveMouse via Allison Sheridan

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

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

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

Wednesday’s guest: Andrew Mayne

Amber Mac joins us to talk about Facebook’s offer that journalism fears it can’t refuse. Is it AOL all over again or the death of journalism? probably neither. we’ll explain why.

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: Amber MacArthur, Host of TechDownload on AOL/Delta & TV Host, Bestselling Author, Speaker, Blogger, Exec. Producer, Entrepreneur

Headlines

The Next Web reports that Fitbit has revealed three new activity trackers to wear on your wrist. The Fitbit Charge tracks steps, distance travelled, calories burned and allows you to see incoming calls. It costs $130 and is only available in the US today. The Charge HR adds a heart monitor for more accurate tracking, costs about $150, and will be available in the US in early 2015. Finally the Fitbit Surge has all of the above plus a GPS chip for collecting pace, distance, elevation and route history. It will also allow you to see incoming called, message and control music playback. The Surge will cost $250 in early 2015.

The Next Web reports Microsoft announced that Office 365 subscriber will get unlimited cloud storage in Microsoft OneDrive as a part of their subscription. The offer is rolling out to home, personal and university accounts over the next couple of months.

CNET reports on Amazon’s announcement of the Fire TV Stick in the US for $39. It comes with a dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage as well as apps like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Instant Video and a remote. You can also get the voice-recognition remote from Amazon for an extra $30. Fore the first two days of sales, existing Amazon Prime members can get the stick for $19. Other purchasers will get a free month of Prime.

The New York Times reports Facebook has been on a “listening tour” with media outlets suggesting the begin serving pages of content within Facebook Mobile in exchange for a revenue share. That deal would drive a lot of traffic of course but also put Facebook in control of customer data and the reading experience. News outlets have been struggling with the fact that large amounts of their traffic are driven from Facebook these days.

The Next Web reports the Xbox One will get a $50 price cut in the US during the upcoming holiday season, down to $350. Special edition bundles get a cut as well. The price cuts go into effect November 2nd, 2014 and lasts through January 3rd, 2015.

The latest in the saga of your TwitPic pictures is reported by the Next Web. TwitPics archive and domain name will be acquired by Twitter. No new pictures will be allowed but existing pictures will not disappear.

ReCode reports Twitter announced its Q3 earnings of a penny per share on revenue of 361 million dollars. That’s pretty much what the analysts expected. Twitter also had 284 million active users up from 271 million in Q2.

News From You

the_corley sent in an Engadget report that the US FCC fined phone carriers TerraCom and YourTel a combined $10 million in penalties for storing their customer information in the clear, including addresses and social security numbers. The carriers also failed to notify their customers after the mistake was discovered. TerraCom and YourTel provide lifeline cell phone service to low income customers.

habichuelcondulce submitted the CNET report that Elon Musk continues to warn us to be careful with Artificial Intelligence. Speaking at the MIT Aeronautics and Astronautics Department’s 2014 Centennial Symposium, Musk said, “With artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon. You know all those stories where there’s the guy with the pentagram and the holy water and he’s like… yeah, he’s sure he can control the demon, [but] it doesn’t work out.” Musk has warned on this matter before and believe some kind of national or international oversight should exist.

And KAPT_Kipper submitted a Torrent Freak article informing us that the European Union has ruled that embedding content on a website is NOT copyright infringement, even if the work in question was uploaded illegally. The full decision has not been published on the court’s website, but it states that embedding a file or video is NOT a breach of creator’s copyrights under European law, as long as its not altered. So give it up for iframes, people!

And many of you wanted us to talk about this. Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports pharmacy chains, CVS and Rite Aid have both decided not to support Apple Pay options in their stores even though some terminals reportedly would accept the payments. The two companies are part of the Merchant Consumer Exchange’s system called CurrentC which uses QR codes to conduct transactions, and more importantly lets merchants keep all the money rather than giving credit card companies a cut. (Justin Robert Young has more on the Merchant Consumer Exchange with a look at the numbers)

Discussion Links:  Facebook’s Mobile Content Play

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/27/business/media/facebook-offers-life-raft-but-publishers-are-wary.html?_r=0

http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-looks-to-woo-publishers-with-mobile-content-offer-2014-10

https://gigaom.com/2014/10/27/so-facebook-controls-the-way-millions-of-people-get-their-news-what-should-we-do-about-it/

https://gigaom.com/2014/10/09/a-tip-for-media-companies-facebook-isnt-your-enemy-but-its-not-your-friend-either/

Pick of the Day: Writeometer via Danny

Howdy Tom and Jenny,

For the last couple weeks, as I’ve been gearing up for NaNoWriMo, I’ve been using a free Android app called Writeometer. It’s primary function is to allow writers to track their word count progress. It can track several projects at once. In addition to that, it adds a bunch of other features such as a timer, a reward system, motivational quotes, a dictionary, thesaurus, and word-of-the-day function with WordNik as the backend.

I’ve been very pleased with it, and it’s become the Swiss Army knife of my writing tools.

Tuesday’s guest: Patrick Beja, DTNS King in the North

Sean Hollister rode the Hendo Hoverboard and chats with us about what the tech might actually be used for and what it was like to be Marty McFly for a moment. Also Len Peralta is hear to illustrate the episode!

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: Sean Hollister, Reviews Editor at Gizmodo and Len Peralta, DTNS artist in residence

Headlines

Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported Amazon’s 95 cents per share loss in Q3 was worse than the 74 cents per share loss analysts expected. Although revenue came in at $20.58 billion, a 20% rise from a year ago though analysts expected it to be even better. Amazon is spending a lot, $21.1 billion on operations including new initiatives like Amazon Fresh and Fire devices, though the company barely mentioned the Fire Phone in its report.

GigaOm reports as expected, Microsoft is officially ending use of the word Nokia in the branding of its Lumia phones. New smartphones from the company will be called Microsoft Lumia devices. Microsoft has the right to use the Nokia name until 2023 and will continue to use it on entry level handsets like the Nokia 130.

Recode reports that Paris-based subscription music service Deezer has purchased podcast aggregator Stitcher. Deezer says it will keep Stitcher’s Android and iOS apps as standalone products, and integrate Stitcher into Deezer under the label ‘TALK.’ Stitcher has 35,000 radio shows and podcasts. The terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed.

The New York Times reports that 57-year-old Google SVP, Allan Eustace broke Felix Baumgartner’s word record for a high-altitude jump. Eustace attached himself to a series of high altitude helium balloons and floated up above Roswell, New Mexico. The balloons took more than two hours to ascend to 135,908 feet, at which point Mr. Eustace separated from the balloons using a small explosive device and started his fall down to earth at speeds up to 800 miles per hour, breaking the sound barrier on the way down, before opening his parachute and landing safely on the ground fifteen minutes later.  [Then  he got re-org’d, according to re/code. ]

MacRumors reports users in its forums report AT&T has locked the virtual SIM in some iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 models. A newly posted Apple support document backs this up saying, “When you choose AT&T on iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3, AT&T dedicates Apple SIM to their network only.” The device remains unlocked so you can get a new SIM if you switch off of AT&T. Why is AT&T subverting the every advantage of the programmable SIM? A spokesman Mark Siegel told ReCode “it’s just simply the way we’ve chosen to do it.”

GigaOm reports Bitcasa will remove its unlimited storage plan, known as ‘infinite drive’ as of November 15. The company will also reduce its free tier from 20 GB to 5 GB. Users who signed up for an infinite drive now have to choose from either a Premium account ($10 a month or $99 a year for 1TB) or Pro account ($99 a month or $999 a year for 10TB). Bitcasa claims less than 0.1% of accounts use more than 10 TB and implied many of those abuse the service.

Ars Technica reports Verizon Wireless customers are being tracked with Unique Identifies Header added to each Web request sent through the system. The UIDH is used to help advertisers better target mobile ads. Verizon Wireless claims they do not use the IDs to create customer profiles, keeps users anonymous and changes the IDs after a set period of time. Users can opt out of the program by visiting:

https://wbillpay.verizonwireless.com/vzw/secure/setPrivacy.action

However UIDHs will still be attached to Web requests. Verizon says users who opt out will not have any information associate with those ID numbers. They promise.

A Hacker News post links to an eevblog forum post from FTDI saying the company has removed the driver that bricked Arduino’s that may have had counterfeit chips. TDI CEO Fred Dart said, “The recently release driver release has now been removed from Windows Update so that on-the-fly updating cannot occur. The driver is in the process of being updated and will be released next week. This will still uphold our stance against devices that are not genuine, but do so in a non-invasive way that means that there is no risk of end user’s hardware being directly affected.”

News From You

habichuelcondulce sent us Jon Brodkin’s Ars Technica writeup of T-Mobile’s need for low-band spectrum to help it better penetrate building walls and travel longer distances. The FCC is conducting an auction next year of the 600MHz spectrum, which is currently controlled by TV broadcasters. T-Mobile is asking the FCC to reserve at least 50 percent of that spectrum for competitors with little or no low-band spectrum in their market. According to T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon control nearly three-quarters of low-band spectrum in the US. T-Mobile USA did not participate in the 2008 700 MHz auction which famously carried open access restrictions pressed by Google.

And dmmacs flagged us to a Verge write-up about a new mini-documentary from Nate Silver’s 538 and ESPN which examines the legendary chess matches between Gary Kasparov and IBM’s Deep Blue computer in the latter half of the nineties. Turns out, when Deep Blue finally beat Kasparov, it was due to a computer ERROR. Essentially Deep Blue got stuck in a loop on the 44th move. The computer was programmed to make a safe move when it got stuck. Apparently Kasparov overthought the meaning behind that simple move, which led to his defeat.

Discussion Links: 

http://gizmodo.com/the-hoverboard-is-real-and-i-rode-it-1649345408

http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/dont-get-too-excited-about-that-new-hoverboard-just-y-1648896230

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenz’s_law

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/142464853/hendo-hoverboards-worlds-first-real-hoverboard

http://www.arxpax.com/#/

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/21/technology/hoverboard-still-in-the-future.html?_r=0#

http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/21/7025197/i-rode-a-real-hoverboard

http://patents.justia.com/patent/8777519

Pick of the Day: The Logitech Harmony Ultimate via Tom. You know, Tom! The host! Of this show!

Monday’s guests: Amber MacArthur

Nate Lanxon is on the show today. we’ll talk about Ello making it illegal for themselves to sell ads, Facebook’s attempt to recapture the message board spirit of 1999 and the future of community on the Web.

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: Nate Lanxon, editor of wired.co.uk, ed-in-chief of Ars Technica UK

Headlines

Facebook launched another independent app from their Creative Labs called Rooms. TechCrunch reports the app will allow users to set up Rooms devoted to a particular discussion topics. While users can choose any screenname they wish, participants must be invited by QR code. also moderators can ban users by device. Facebook will also have the ability to unilaterally delete posts ban members or take down entire rooms if they violate its community guidelines. Rooms will be available for iOS only in the US, UK ad a few other countries, with an Android version coming in 2015.

Ello raised another round of funding, $5.5 million this time, but made a more unusual move. The company has filed as a Public Benefit Corporation in Delaware. This means the company is not only beholden to its stockholders return but also to benefitting the public. Transit agencies, port authorities and government entities like the US Post Office and Corporation for Public Broadcasting are examples of Public Benefit Corporations. Ello made its investors sign a letter committing to never taking ads, never making money from selling user data and forcing any new owners that might acquire Ello to do the same.

The BBC reports that Mark Zuckerberg was in Beijing and gave a speech in Mandarin during a meeting with students at the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management. The reviews are in: Quartz said he sounded “like someone was stepping on his face”. Isaac Stone Fish at Foreignpolicy.com wrote “he can communicate like an articulate seven-year-old with a mouth full of marbles.” Zuck himself said “The Chinese language is difficult, and I speak English, but I like challenges.” Zuckerberg set a goal in 2010 to learn Mandarin, in order to better communicate with his in-laws. And maybe also China’s 641 million internet users. And the Chinese government, which does not currently allow those users access to Facebook.

GigaOm reports Amazon launched its sAWS region in Germany, its second in Europe, the other being in Ireland. The region is run out of Frankfurt. The location will improve reliability and latency for many customers and also make it easier for Germany companies to use AWS. Germany has the strictest data protection laws in Europe.

TechCrunch reports Google has hired by acquisition the teams behind deep learning startups Dark Blue Labs and Vision Factory which both spun out of Oxford University in the UK. Google will also partner with Oxford on wider research efforts int he area of AI. The teams will join Google DeepMind which Google acquired in January. The teams specialise in natural language understanding algorithms that help robots process 3D objects and movement.

Engadget reports that Canonical released Ubuntu 14.10 Utopic Unicorn today in celebration of 10 years of Ubuntu. The update is very minor featuring a developer tool center that makes it easier to write Android apps, as well as support for zero-setup printers and 64-bit ARM chips. So enjoy your ‘humanness’, you 25 million Ubuntu users–it’s your special day. (If you want to read more about the ten year history of Ubuntu Ars Technica has a great writeup)

If you, like me, and almost nobody else were following the story of China cornering the market on rare Earth minerals, you can rest easy. Vox has a story showing that a combination of stepped up production in the rest of the word and reduction of dependence on the minerals in manufacturing has combined to avoid a crisis. Rare Earth minerals like Neodynium and Dysprosium are used in the manufacture of many electronics. In 2010 China produced 97% of the world’s rare earth minerals and began restricting exports.

TechCrunch reports Microsoft earnings are in and they are good! Revenue was $23.2 billion in the fiscal first quarter with earnings per share of 54 cents. That beat analysts expectations of $22.02 billion and 49 or 50 cents a share. Surface revenue was a bright spot with $908 million. And the phone line was $2.6 billion a rise from Q4.Office 365 for consumers grew to 7 million subscribers, up 25 percent from the preceding quarter. Devices and Consumer revenue was up 47 percent to $10.96 billion. Its Commercial revenue was up 10% to $12.28 billion. Windows.

 

News From You

KAPT_Kipper pointed out the Ars Technica article that driver update deployed through Windows Update for USB-to-serial chips made by FTDI is causing some Arduino microcontroller to become unresponsive. Bricked. The twist is the drivers actually only affect counterfeit chips. This may be an accident, it may be a side effect that FTDI doesn’t mind, or it may be on purpose. FTDI has recovery software that enables chips to be reprogrammed, and when used with some older drivers, it appears possible to reset the bricked chips.

swiftpawz sent us an Android Central report that Chromebook shipments increased by 67 percent in the second quarter of 2014. ABI Research, the company that rounded up the data, predicts total 2014 shipments will double those of the previous year. The US accounted for 78% of Chromebook purchases. In emerging markets, especially in Asia-Pacific and Eastern Europe, business-purchasing entities account for 75 percent of Chromebook sales.

In space, no one can hear you scream, but on Soundcloud, you can now hear the sounds of space. Or at least the sounds from things that flew into space. thisisnotjr sent us the BBC report that NASA has released 60 sound samples of historical audio from NASA missions on Soundcloud, including the immortal words of Neil Armstrong when first stepping onto the moon, and Apollo 18’s “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” Commencing download in 10, 9, 8…

Discussion Links: 

http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/23/facebook-rooms/?ncid=rss

http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/23/josh-miller-rooms/?ncid=rss

http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/23/ello-raises-5-5-million-legally-files-as-public-benefit-corp-meaning-no-ads-ever/

https://ello.co/wtf/post/FsXDQrTHGLKhHbaSaVrHXg

https://ello.co/downloads/ello-pbc.pdf

http://www.tsu.co/

Pick of the Day: on{x} via Christian W

You were mentioning Microsoft Garage…

I believe one of the most exciting things to come out of that endeavor is on{x}.

https://www.onx.ms/

It can best be described as Tasker on steroids. Using javascript you can make your Android phone react to certain situations.
Just got home? Text someone.
Geolocation near anything matching the bing search “Science museum”, get a notification.

If you can code it, it works.

I used it when I had an android phone. Now I have a Lumia 930, and the sucker is more locked down than an iPhone.

Love the show.
From wet, cold and currently sucky, Trondheim Norway.

Christian W.

Friday’s guests: Sean Hollister, Reviews Editor at Gizmodo and Len Peralta, DTNS artist in residence