Patrick Beja joins the show to talk about just how open Tesla’s ‘open source’ patents could be, plus news about Facebook and your privacy, Google investing in Virgin Galactic and a cup that sense what you’re drinking.
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Show Notes
Today’s guests: Patrick Beja, host of Le rendez-vous Tech
Headlines
PC World reports Facebook is making changes to how ads work. One change will put blue arrows by ads in the news feed. When you click a blue arrow it lets you see which of your preferences caused an ad to appear and allows you to tweak those preferences so more relevant ads will show up. IN a somewhat less privacy-friendly maneuver, Facebook also announced it will now track your Web and app activity and will not respect Do Not Track settings. Users can opt out at the Digital Advertising Alliance opt-out page at http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ or use settings in iOS and Android.Or block cookies. Or don’t use Facebook.
BloombergBusinessWeek reports Intel’s appeal against a 2009 fine of €1.06 billion was rejected in its entirety by the EU’s general court. Intel was found to have broken antitrust laws in Europe by giving rebates to manufacturers who chose Intel chips over AMD.
CNET reports on an Yves Behar designed smart cup called Vessyl from a San Francisco startup called Mark One. The thermos-like cup is covered in sensors and can detect and track what you drink and how much of it. Sensors track amount of caffeine, sugar, calories, and a proprietary hydration metric called Pryme. Mark One will sell the Vessyl through its website at a pre-order price of $99. If the company raises $50,000 the cup will retail for $199.
Elon Musk wrote on the Tesla blog today that the electric car company will “not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.” The idea is to encourage competing carmakers to get into the business of making electric cars and accelerate their development and growth.
Sky News reports Google is in talks with Virgin Galactic for deal that would give Google a stake in the company and some technological assistance in its plans to launch satellites to provide wireless Internet. Virgin Galactic would get cash. While the deal is not final, Sky news sources estimate Google might invest $30 million and come away with a 1.5% stake.
News From You
Our top story on the subreddit came from melchizedek74. The Verge reports on Amazon following through from yesterday’s rumor and launching Prime Music a free streaming music service fro subscribers to Amazon Prime. Ad-free access to a million songs now comes along with free shipping, video streaming and ebook lending. Prime Music features curated playlists and forthcoming apps for Kindle Fire, iOS, Android, PC and Mac. The service will not have new releases, or popular songs from Universal Music.
tekkyn00b pointed out the Verge report that Starbucks plans to install Powermat wireless charging stations in table in its coffee stores in the US, starting in the San Francisco area. Most phones have Qi built in, but powermat cases are available for popular phones like the Galaxy and iPhone and a receiver “ring” will be available inexpensively to fit most cell phones. We don’t know if the rings will be sold by Starbucks.
tekkyn00b also submitted the Verge article that a US Appellate Court for the 11th Circuit has ruled that police must obtain a warrant before collecting cellphone location data. The court determined cell tower connections constitute a Fourth Ammendment issue. This ruling contradicts a ruling made in a different circuit almost a year ago.
And Hurmoth submitted Jon Brodkin’s Ars Technica article explaining why Netflix’s performance on Verizon has not improved as fast after striking an interconnect deal as Comcast’s did. The article is worth the read if you really want to understand, but essentially, Netflix and Comcast started working on the Interconnection long before their deal was signed. Verizon and Netflix started working on their interconnection once the two companies had an agreement. Rollout begins in ernest next month and will continue through the 4th quarter.
Discussion Section Links: All our patents are belong to you
http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/all-our-patent-are-belong-you
Pick of the day: Newsblur via SkyJedi
Since Feedly is being buried under a sea of Ddos Trollery, I’ll share my RSS solution: Newsblur. It has free and premium sides, iOS and Android apps. Import your feeds from any service. They also have sharing, and all the other bells and whistles of a modern day RSS reader.
Friday’s Guest: Eric Olander co-host of the weekly China in Africa podcast