What makes comfort food, patriotic fast food, the premiere of Peter Capaldi as Doctor Who.
Download the episode at this link.
DTNS 2307 – Google blinks, Amazon Twitches
Anthony Carboni joins us to talk about Amazon buying Twitch and Facebook fighting Clickbait.
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: Anthony Carboni, co-host of We Have Concerns
Patreon link: http://www.patreon.com/wehaveconcerns
Headlines
Facebook announced today it’s altering its news feed algorithm to combat clickbait. Facebook’s algorithms will note when a high number of people click on a link and then come right back to Facebook. They’ll also note if links receive low numbers of comments and likes. Those are signs of clickbait and the Facebook algorithm will not hesitate to demote such links. After enough people have been suckered into clicking to prove its clickbait.
Ars Technica spent the morning collecting all the news outlets whose sources SWORE this time Twitch was really getting bought. By Amazon this time. We know they said it was Google earlier this summer TWICE, but this time the source familiar with the situation were absolutely briefed on the matter. The price is still reportedly around $1 billion. An announcement came at 1 PM in a blog post from Twitch CEO Emmett Shear confirming the deal. He wrote they chose Amazon because they “believe in our community, they share our values and long-term vision, and they want to help us get there faster.” Twitch will remain an independent company owned by Amazon.
According to Engadget, Tivo is releasing a limited edition Roamio OTA DVR where the OTA stands for over the air. The device will cost $49.99 along with a 15 dollar a month subscription for TIVO’s channel guide. Just like the $150 more expensive Roamio that has cablecard slots the OTA has 500 GB of storage, four tuners and can use the separate TiVo Stream device to stream live and pre-recorded videos on other devices. It just doesn’t have cablecard slots. Apparently cable card slots are worth $150.
Reuters passes along a report from Xinhua that China plans to release another operating system of its own by October. The first version would be for desktops, which China has done before with its own distro of Linux, but later would come OS’s for mobile devices. There’s also talk of an app store. Ni Guangnan head of an official OS development alliance established in March, hopes domestically developed software could replace desktop OSs witin two years and mobile OSs within 3-5 years.
The BBC reports on denial of service attacks carried out against most of the popular game networks like Playstation Network, Xbox Live, BattleNet and more. At the same time, John Smedley. president of Sony Online Entertainment had his plane diverted to Phoenix after a bomb threat. No one was hurt. Multiple groups have claimed responsibility for the attacks. The US FBI is investigating.
News From You
spsheridan posted a Geek.com article about for NC State University undergrads developing nail polish that can detect drugs. Ankesh Madan, Stephen Gray, Tasso Von Windheim, and Tyler Confrey-Maloney have developed a polish they call “Undercover Colors.” The polish contains chemicals that react to Rohypnol and GHB and change colors in its presence.
AcidBeaver85 passes along a Venture Beat story that Coin has changed its mind about double-charging long-waiting backers. Coin first announced that the finished product would be delayed until Spring 2015 and that backers who already paid would have to pay again if they participated in a beta. That didn’t go over so well. Coin now says backer that pre-order customers who opt into the Beta program will still receive the non-beta final product without further charge. The Coin beta program is expected to roll out in the fourth quarter.
MacBytes flags us to the The Verge article about LG’s plan to announce at circular smart watch next week. The LG G Watch R — presumably R stands for Round, will comes with a button on the side, unlike LG’s original square smart watch. The round watch will also have a digital step counter, distance meter and compass. The video also seemed to tease that the display would be a perfect circle, without the black bar at the bottom of the Moto 360 teased at Google I/O.
MikePkennedy pointed out the Next Web story that Mozilla will launch a Firefox OS phone in India this week. The CloudFX, developed by Intex Technologies has a 3.5-inch display, 1GHz processor, 2-megapixel rear-facing camera, dual SIM Bluetooth and WiFi. Hindi and Tamil are supported out of the box. Customers can order it from Sanpdeal.com for less than 2000 Rs which is about $33 US.
Discussion Links:
http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/25/6066295/amazon-reportedly-buying-twitch-for-over-1-billion
http://recode.net/2014/08/25/amazon-will-buy-twitch-for-more-than-1-billion/
http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/25/6066509/why-it-makes-sense-for-amazon-to-buy-twitch
http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/25/facebook-vs-clickbait/?ncid=rss
http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/08/news-feed-fyi-click-baiting/
Plug of the Day:
Plug of the day: Daily Tech News Show Shirt with Mustafa from thepolarcat.com’s logo now available in white, black and Ash. Look in the podcasts section.
Pick of the Day: Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is a CCG (collectible card game a la Magic: The Gathering) from Blizzard Entertainment featuring characters from the WoW universe. As someone who never played WoW, on it’s face, it didn’t sound that interesting, but, as someone who played a little Magic back in the day, the second I loaded this onto my iPad, I was hooked. You can play your friends or random people in friendly matches, ranked matches or an arena mode where you draft a deck and then play it on the spot. The game is packed with excellent graphics, animations and music; ever-expanding content; and a vast and active community. The game is free to play with in-app purchases (totally not required) and is available for PC, Mac and iPad with Windows 8 and Android tablet support to come in the near future. Too much fun not to pass along.
Tuesday’s guest: Molly Wood
Cordkillers Ep. 34 – My mother is part camel
Want to understand why HBO won’t go Internet only and Comcast will? We have a camel and fig metaphor for you.
CordKillers: Ep. My mother is part camel
Recorded: August 24, 2014
Guests: Jeff Cannata, Anthony Carboni
Intro Video
Primary Target
- Wall Street Estimates for HBO Broadband-Only Revenue, Profits
- – Barclays analyst Kannan Venkateshwar.
– HBO “windows” all of its new programming for digital-only subscribers. That is, you could stream “Game of Thrones” or “True Detective” on your iPad, but you’d have to wait for six months or a year to get the new seasons. Venkateshwar figures HBO could sell these wait-a-while subscriptions for $11 a month, a discount from the $15 a month the average cable TV subscriber pays for HBO.
– Sell the real-deal version of HBO over the Web, but charge a premium for it, like $18 a month. The theory here is that there are several million people with broadband who don’t pay for TV right now, and it seems unlikely they ever will. So why not turn some of them into paying customers?
– Could generate up to $600 million in new earnings, Venkateshwar estimates.
Signal Intelligence
- Comcast launches internet-delivered cable TV at MIT and several other schools
- – Bridgewater College, Drexel University, Emerson College, Lasell College and the University of Delaware. T
– Included with room and board and can only be used on campu (althoughh HBO Go Watch ESPN, etc.)
– Comcast hopes to add other universities soon.
– A company called Philo provides similar service to Harvard, Stanford and Yale.
Gear Up
- Will Roku bring smart TVs into the cool crowd?
- Roku integration in TCL and HiSense TVs
– TCL on preorder at Amazon and in retail in next few weeks
– HiSense hit stores late September
– 32-inch TCL set $229, $649 for 55-inch
– NPD est. 2/3 of N. A. TVs are ‘dumb’
Under surveillance
- BitTorrent’s Science Fiction Series Looks Like an American Apparel Ad
- Children Of The Machine Facebook
- BitTorrent, ‘ConTV and Rapid Eye Studios making “Children of the Machine”
– First extended clip
– “Implants” and “jolting”
– Once the 60-minute pilot is completed, it will be available to everyone for free on all platforms at the end of 2014
– If enough people sign up for the flat rate of $9.95, the series will continue.
Front Lines 2014
- ChannelMaster introduced a Leaf-like antenna called Flatenna which they’re selling for $10 with free shipping.
- Simple.TV owners can set up guest passes to stream shows on Web, mobile and Roku.
- -Guests can’t watch live TV or schedule recordings, only access previously recorded shows. Up to 5 users can access a Simple.TV at once without performance hit, they say.
- Firefox for Android got Chromecast support this week.
- –At the same time the Abitcool website started referring to something called “Matchstick” which is likely the Firefox OS powered streaming stick they’ve been working on.
- The good news? A revised online viewing agreement means local games may not be blacked out for online viewing next season?
- -The bad news, you’d still probably need a cable TV plan in order to be able to watch them.
- Steven Spielberg is apparently developing a Minority Report television series.
- -It would supposedly follow the pre-crime unit as they prevent crimes. Godzilla writer Max Borenstein has allegedly been hired to write the pilot.
- Nimble TV has reinvented itself again. It now lets pay TV subscribers in New York or Chicago watch some channels on a Web-connected device for free.
- -Want all your channels and a cloud DVR? You pay from $5 to $30 a month. It’s essentially slingbox/DVR service in the cloud.
On Our Radar
On Screen
- Brian: The Leftovers
- Tom: Doctor Who, The Leftovers, The Shield (302)
- Jeff: Last Week Tonight, Magic in the Moonlight
- Anthony: Doctor Who, The Leftovers, Last Week Tonight
Dispatches from the Front
Hey Brian and Tom
i have been catching up on the show and was watching episode 32 “cord apathetics” when i heard Brian say something that finally made me disagree with him, as i usually see things from both host points of view. when Brian said we need to get rid of the over the air signals i was taken aback by this. my 86 year old grandmother wants to cut the comcast cord and only have phone service (she needs it for lifealert as much like r.l. stine she lives alone) and she told me that she only wants to get the local (35 miles away) Lansing stations. to make a long story short i am searching for an outdoor antenna as all the indoor ones can not penetrate the walls of her living room and she also refuses to get internet.
Thanks love the show
Greg
Brian and Tom,
Just thought I’d mention something for the guy who was disappointed with the lack of content he wanted to watch on Netflix. Canistream.it is a great website that has a mobile web version and even mobile phone apps. It allows you to search for pretty much any TV show or movie and it will tell you what services it is available on for streaming or renting or digital purchase or even DVD rental/purchase. I use it all the time and it’s great for those us trying to cut the cord!
Chris
Hey Tom & Brian,
Love the show, yada yada yada. Regarding the Movie Draft at Box Office Draft.com. What, who or where is the source for the movie listings for the next draft ? When would it be coming out ? And will the spreadsheet template be available to copy and paste into the league I would like to create ? Need some nitty and gritty on this, as I would like our family who it spread out over much of the country to join in on the fun.
Thanks,
Dave
Links
FSL Tonight SemiFinals – Return of the Senators
DTNS 2306 – Hacking Green Lighted
Darren Kitchen is on the show and we’ll talk about the hack of Secret that means your secrets can never fully be Secret. Also how to hack traffic lights. Plus Len Peralta is here to illustrate the show!
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
DTNS 2305 – Cloudy with a Chance of Ads
Peter Wells is on the show and we’ll talk about Soundcloud’s new advertising-supported rev share plan for artists. Is Soundcloud becoming TOO YouTube-like?
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: Peter Wells, of Reckoner, Australia
Headlines
The Verge has been chatting with sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans who say September 30th is tentatively when a press announcement of the next version of Windows is scheduled. The OS, codenamed Threshold is expected to come out as a technical preview sometime in September or October. What is guessed by many to end up being called Windows 9, will have a new mini start menu, get rid of the charms bar, and have a few other UI tweaks. We might even get a version of the Cortana virtual assistant. It’s possible we’ll get detail son the unification of Windows RT and Windows Phone as well.
Reuters, citing subscription tech news site The Information, reports that EBay told potential candidates for the job of Paypal CEO about a possible spinoff of Paypal. Whether that would mean part or all of Paypal would be spun off, we don’t know. Ebay recently resisted demands by activist shareholder Carl Icahn to separate PayPal from its parent company.
Engadget reports Comcast will officially launch its TV service over the Internet on several college campuses this year, including Bridgewater College, Drexel University, Emerson College, Lasell College and the University of Delaware. The service comes included with room and board and can only be used on campus, although among the 80 channels are ESPN and HBO which can be accessed off campus through the WatchESPN and HBO Go apps. Comcast hopes to add other universities soon. A company called Philo provides similar service to Harvard, Stanford and Yale.
GigaOm reports the class action lawsuit put forth by Max Schrems Europe v Facebook campaign is going forward in Austria. The Vienna Regional Court gave Facebook Ireland four weeks to respond to the claimants’ accusations of widespread breaches of data protection law.
According to CNET, Google Chrome is now available for Cubans to download at google.co.cu. Google executives reportedly visited Cuba in June to push for greater Internet access. US sanctions make it difficult for US businesses to do anything in Cuba and Google hinted as much in their G+ post about the launch but hope to figure out how to make more tools available in sanctioned countries. This will surely be highly anticipated by the five percent of Cubans that US NGO Freedom House estimates have regular access to the Internet in Cuba.
The New York Times reports Soundcloud will begin to incorporate advertising in its audio streaming service, starting with Red Bull, Jaguar and Comedy Central. The revenue will mostly go to artists and labels. A new program called On Soundcloud Premier will let select organizations and indie artists join a revenue sharing plan. Big publishers like BMG all the way own to indies like rapper GoldLink are part of the first group in the Premier program. Soundcloud said they also plan to provide a subscription service that would allow listeners to pay to make the ads go away.
The Next Web reports iBeacon-based company Estimote is promoting something they call “nearables” as opposed to wearables. Estimote stickers have integrated accelerometer and temperature sensors and can work with more than just iBeacon. A developer kit is being unveiled today with 10 Estimote Stickers for $99.
News From You
tm204 submitted the MIT News post about a paper describing how to take discarded car batteries and recycles materials from them into longer-lasting solar panels. The panels use a compound called perovskite which requires lead. Rather than produce the lead from raw ore, the researchers can take the lead from one car battery and make enough solar panels to power 30 households. The paper will appear in in Energy and Environemental Science by professors Angela M. Belcher and Paula T. Hammond, graduate student Po-Yen Chen, and three others.
bmbuffalo posted the imgur gallery showing how a fully fucntional 1 Kilobyte hard drive was made by a user called smelly string in Minecraft. A second, larger unit created by The0JJ can store 4KB of data. The devices use Redstone to power pistons that represent binary values by pushing a solid or clear block in front of the redstone signal. Solid blocks are used as ones and clear blocks as zeroes.
funkaround sends along a Wired.com article with the depressing news that Apple’s iMesssage is being taken over by spammers, specifically those hawking fake luxury goods. According to one security analyst, iMessage is a “spammers dream” because it spans the entire Apple ecosystem and Apple scripts can churn out masses of messages. You can report spam to Apple in a tedious process involving taking screenshots or just turn off iMessage until Apple gets the hint.
tekkyn00b pointed out the Android Central article that T-Mobile is heating up the US mobile wars offering a free year of unlimited LTE service if a customer can get someone to switch from Sprint, Verizon or AT&T to T-Mobile. That means the referrer and the new customer both get the free year. Sprint for its part has offered an unlimited talk, text and data plan for $60 a month.
Discussion Links:
http://blog.soundcloud.com/2014/08/21/introducing-on-soundcloud/
http://thisisadynasty.tumblr.com/post/87945465547/brb-deleting-soundcloud
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/aug/21/soundcloud-ads-musicians-major-labels
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. The latest book covering things that happened in September, JUST hit the store today! Check it out for 99 cents each at tommerrittbooks.com or just search Amazon.
Pick of the Day: You Need A Budget via Mike Reed
I would like to suggestion YNAB (You Need a Budget) as a pick. This is a great piece of software, and set of basic rules to assist you in managing your finances. Their software is not cheap at $60, but it is very much worth it. There is a Windows and Mac version for the desktop, and iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire for mobile. The killer feature is Dropbox synchronization. I can be at the grocery store, make my purchase and as I walk out of the store, input the transaction into my mobile device. It immediately updates through Dropbox to any other client, and shows me what the budget for that category was, and what it is now. The company is extremely supportive with numerous live classes to learn the process and software, and a great and helpful online community. I recommend this software to people who need help, and people who don’t. It is a great way to stay on top of your finances, and set great goals for the future.
Friday’s Guest: Darren Kitchen of hak5.org and Len Peralta of all the arts!
DTNS 2304 – Twitter’s Mortal Struggle
Jeff Cannata is on the show. We’ll talk about Twitter’s new policy of removing photos of dead family members and how it ran right into free speech issues with the videos of reporter James Foley’s death.
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
It’s Spoilerin’ Time: Episode 33 – The Leftovers Ep. 7, The Shield (301), Fargo
The Leftovers finally impresses Tom, The Shield comes together, and we begin the great The Fargo experiment.
01:00 – The Leftovers
08:15 – The Shield
15:45 – Fargo
S&L Podcast – #187 – How to Win a Hugo
We congratulate all the winners of the Hugos and chat with Aidan Moher about how he took home the best fanzine Hugo for A Dribble of Ink. Veronica milks him for info on how to win, and then we learn a way you can help more people become better writers and win more Hugos!
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: Third Shift Amber Lager
Veronica: Hell or High Watermelon
QUICK BURNS
Louie: Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice (Orbit) took the top prize of Best Novel. No surprise there. I believe Veronica called this result, months ago. What do you think about the other winners? How many of the nominees have you read?
Best Related Work: We Have Always Fought: Challenging the Women, Cattle and Slaves Narrative by Kameron Hurley (A Dribble of Ink) and Best Fanzine: A Dribble of Ink edited by Aidan Moher
Alain: The class of 2012 Clarion writers work shop is raising money for the non-profit Clarion Foundation. The Clarion workshop is a six week course/session where aspiring writers who want to write Science Fiction and Fantasy can hone and improve their craft. Many now famous writers in the field have attended here is a far from exhaustive list. Anyway the class of 2012 have put together an anthology to raise funds. It’s a name your price kinda of thing for .99 cents upwards. Luke R. Pebler who appears in the S&L anthology has a story in here as well as 16 other writers. A very cheap way to check out some up and coming writers.
Paul: July is biggest comic month in history making $53 million and the number one selling comic? Rocket Racoon #1. Rack up another one for the “Unknown Property” of Guardians of the Galaxy. P.S. Groot debuted in November 1960 in Tales to Astonish #13. Years Before Spider-Man, The X-Men or every one of the Avengers except for the original Captain America series (March 1941). Just For Posterity Ronan The Accuser (August 1967). The Original far future Guardians of the Galaxy which was a completely different team (January 1969). Adam Warlock (The already announced GotG 2? 🙂 (April 1972) Drax (1973) Gamora (1975) Star Lord and Rocket Racoon both (1976)
terpkristin: Jennifer Lee, who co-wrote Wreck-It Ralph and Frozen, has been tapped to work on the screenplay for a live-action version of A Wrinkle in Time. I loved loved loved loved this book when I was a kid and am cautiously optimistic about this project…
George R.R. Martin Says Game of Thrones Readers Have Already Predicted the Series Ending
Syfy’s Childhood’s End Adaptation Gets Closer and Closer to Happening
PICKS
Lindsay writes: Prior to reading The Name of the Wind, I read: Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis: Picked it up after listening to an interview with the author on the Skiffy and Fanty show and it was excellent YA Fantasy. Every time the main character blinks his perspective switches to a girl in a secondary fantasy world.
August 26 – The Broken Eye (Lightbringer) by Brent Weeks and Echopraxia by Peter watts (continuing on from Blindsight) Lock in by John Scalzi
September 2 – Sleeping Late on Judgement Day (Bobby Dollar) by Tad Williams
Find more upcoming releases at swordandlaser.com/calendar
BARE YOUR SWORD
Sword and Laser do #LonCon3 ! @swordandlaser http://t.co/ahzB5y3SXf
@swordandlaser Just got this. Looks like a fantastic lineup. http://t.co/V2Bg71q3qJ
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
Next Month’s book pick! Stories of Your Life and others by Ted Chiang
This month’s Pick:
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
The always important casting thread
Theories from: The Re-Readers’ Thread posted by Jack
ADDENDUMS
Sign up for the newsletter to enter to win a copy of Half a King by Joe Abercrombie! See form on the right-hand nav on the website here!
DTNS 2303 – Uber wants to grab your package
Molly Wood is on the show and while we celebrate the movement of Ballmer from tech mogul to eccentric sports owner, we also ponder why Uber and others seem to think they can make Webvan and Kozmo’s business models work again.
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: Molly Wood, deputy technology editor for The New York Times, yo!
Headlines
The HTC One (M8) for Windows Phone became a reality today and likely the longest name in smartphones. It’s essentially the same as the Android M8 but only available in a 32GB version. It’s available in the US to start, from Verizon for $99 on contract.
The Next Web reports that former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has stepped down from the company’s board of directors so he can focus on his new role as owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team. Ballmer plans to remain Microsoft’s biggest individual shareholder, but wrote in a public letter to CEO Satya Nadella that it would be “impractical” to remain on the board with his other time commitments.
Android Police has some secret unconfirmed source of info about Google’s upcoming subscription music service, which they say will be called YouTube Music Key. The new service will offer offer ad-free music, audio-only playback for background or screen-off listening, and offline playback. YouTube Music Key will allegedly be free for the first 30 days, after which the service will run $9.99/month. According to Android Police, that price will include both YouTube Music Key and Google Play Music Key, the new name of Google Music All Access.
Engadget reports that Dropbox-owned Mailbox has begun rolling out early access to its desktop email client. If you are a current Mailbox user or signed up for the beta, you should be issued a betacoin as well as a few more betacoins to share with friends. The rollout goes in batches so you may not receive your betacoin right away. The software runs on OS X Mavericks and shares several features with the popular mobile app. The company has not decided on a release date for the final version.
The Next Web reports Uber has launched a test service called ‘Corner Store’ in parts of Washington DC. For a couple weeks you’ll be able to choose an Uber driver from the corner store tab who can deliver you various convenience store items like toothpaste, shampoo, aspirin, etc. When you’ve selected an available driver, you’ll confirm your address, then get a link to a list of available items and prices, then choose your items if available, then wait for a call from the driver to place your order, then when the driver arrives you go outside and confirm your order. It’s that EASY! —- Also Uber hired President Obama’s former campaign manager David Plouffe to be Senior Vice President of Policy and Strategy.
The Next Web passes along details from an IDC report that Q2 shipments of smartphones in India grew 84 percent year over year. Overall though feature phones still made up 71% of all shipments, meaning there’s plenty of room for that skyrocketing smartphone market to continue to rocket into the sky. Micromax was India’s overall top mobile phone shipper, while Samsung topped the smartphone category.
News From You
tm204 submitted a subscription only report by The Information that we know not everybody can afford to read — so we also found a story from CNET —about Google’s attempts to find new users by offering some of its services to children. This would include a child-safe version of YouTube featuring a dashboard to let parents monitor their children’s activity. Any new version of the site targeted at kids would need to comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which imposes restrictions on web companies targeting children under 13 years old. Most big tech companies shy away although kid-focused businesses like Disney and Nickelodeon have found plenty of ways to work within the law.
magoojc posted the Ars Technica article about a settlement between Personal Audio LLC and Adam Carolla over a patent dispute that affected podcasting. Both sides filed a joint motion to dismiss and agreed to a quiet period until Sept. 30. Both the lawsuite and Carolla’s countersuit were dropped without prejuice meaning they could be refiled. Personal Audio is still suing CBS, NBC and Fox over video-on-demand services. The EFF is challenging the Personal Audio patent in an “inter partes review” being conducted at the US Patent Office.
Sewell2 pointed out the Ars Technica story about Delaware’s “Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets and Digital Accounts Act,” which gives heirs and executors the authority to take legal control of a digital account or device. Right now under California law for instance, if I die, my heir does not have the right to access any of my Twitter accounts. However some oppose the law as it makes no provision for confidential records, such as those of patients stored in a deceased Doctor’s email account.
Discussion Links: Uber’s doing what now?
http://blog.uber.com/cornerstore
http://blog.uber.com/cornerstoreinventorylist
http://blog.uber.com/uberMOVERS
http://recode.net/2014/08/07/instant-replay-the-second-coming-of-on-demand-delivery/
http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/19/6045095/uber-cornerstore-delivery-service
http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/04/wunwun-because-everything-should-be-available-on-demand/
http://mercurystartups.com/node/14
https://www.therealreal.com/about
http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/15/uber-to-test-moving-services-in-atlanta-nashville/
Plug of the Day: Alpha Geek Radio
Pick of the Day: Battery Doctor via Jamie Brand
I’ve been using this app for awhile now and I swear by it. It’s called Battery Doctor and it frees up memory on your phone. Whenever I launch a game or memory intensive app, I will run this to free up some memory. It’s free and available for iOS and Android phones.
The real reason I’m making this a pick for you however, is a feature they added recently. You are now able to setup a service called One Tap Boost, and after a quick settings profile is setup, it will add a boost icon to your springboard. One tap will now quickly free up memory for you without having to open the main Battery app, and it also closes automatically once you’re done! A great app for those who use several apps throughout the day!
Wednesday’s Guest: Jeff Cannata, co-host of a brand new comedy podcast called We Have Concerns