Jill Duffy is here to talk about the wearables people actually care about and USE and how your Doctor’s office may be the biggest beneficiary.

Support the show at http://patreon.com/donate

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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: Jill Duffy, writer and senior analyst at pcmag.com

Check out Jill’s great article on Fitness Trackers at Prevention Magazine

Also! It’s almost the one year anniversary of DTNS and Friday’s resident artprov artist Len Peralta is doing something special to mark the occasion. He’s drawing a poster called “In This Together” and you have a chance to be drawn into the print. There are only 50 slots left available. If you want to get drawn into this piece of DTNS history, go to Len’s Patreon page: patreon.com/len and pledge at the $2.50 level or higher. Len will draw you into the print + you’ll also get a copy of it as well. Once again, that URL is patreon.com/len

Headlines:

Engadget reports Corning has created Gorilla Glass 4. The company examined hundreds of broken devices and smashed a LOT of phones to find out that damage from sharp contact accounted for 70% of field failures. Gorilla Glass 4 is designed to stay intact 80 percent of the time when dropped from a meter above a rough surface (3.3. feet). Corning said it is already sending test samples to its customers.

TechCrunch reports Dropbox has updated its Carousel app for iOS and Android. Carousel combines photos from your device with photos stored in Dropbox to make an easy interface for viewing all of them. The Carousel feature lets you easily spin through photos to view them and a messaging feature lets you instantly send photos and videos to friends. The new app with a cleaner interface launches on iPad today, Android tablets soon and adds a web version as well.

ReCode passes along details from Sandvine’s latest report on North American broadband usage during primetime. If you’ve been saying Netflix takes up about a third of download bandwidth, you can keep saying that. YouTube stays at number 2 with 14.04% and Amazon has risen to 2.58%. This bandwidth usage so it’s not number of streams but it’s a fair approximation. BitTorrent still takes up 25.49% of the upload. So many Linux ISOs.

Ars Technica reports Mozilla has not renewed Google as the default search engine for the Firefox browser worldwide. Mozilla has struck regional deals. Baidu becomes default in China, Yandex in Russia and Yahoo powered by Bing in the US. Mozilla told MarketingLand’s Danny Sullivan that Google remains default in Europe and it will continue to exist as an alternate option.

Gigaom reports that The Washington Post has launched a version of its news app exclusive to Amazon Fire owners. Fire users will get the app free for six months. An additional six months will cost $1. The new app will come to other devices next year but cost $3.99/month. The new app includes ‘Pinch View’ which allows users to swipe through an edition as if they were flipping magazine pages and updates twice a day at 5am and 5pm eastern with breaking news and other updates added in between.

Reuters reports Alibaba founder Jack Ma said the Chinese company will set up an international version of its Taobao ecommerce site in multiple languages including English and Chinese. Alibaba has a wholesale international site called Aliexpress but not one for consumers to sell to each other.

The Verge reports Uber hired Harriet Pearson, former privacy chief at IBM, to conduct a review of Uber’s privacy practices and make recommendations. In addition US Senator Al Franken posted a public letter to Uber CEO Travis Kalanick taking him to task for the companies attitude toward privacy and asking 8 questions which the Senator expect responses to by December 15th.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports a corporate advocacy group called the Ad Hoc Telecommunications USers Committee has visited the US FCC commissioners three times this year. Representatives of the group included Nicholas Lewis of UPS, Lawrence Chattoo of Bank of America, Carl Holshouser of Visa and James Carroll from Ford Motor. FCC filings show the topic of the meetings was “Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet” and terminating access monopolies. In a separate comment filed with the FCC the same group urged the FCC to classify broadband under Title II. Ford and Visa spokespeople told Bloomberg their representatives did not advocate for Title II.

The Verge reports Google has a new system called Contributor that lets users pay partner sites $1 to $3 a month in order to remove Google AdSense ads from the site. Mashable, The Onion, Science Daily, Imgur, WikiHow, and Urban Dictionary have been announced as partners in the new program.

 

News From You:

starfuryzeta sent the GigaOm report that the US FTC and the State of Florida announced court complaints against dozens of individuals and companies that allegedly run PC Cleaner scams. The scams trick users into installing malware and then charge them for the removal of it which then leads to further scams. The FTC obtained an injunction on their operations and an order for asset seizures though no criminal charges were filed.

KAPT_Kipper pointed out the TechCrunch story that free open source anti-surveillance tool called Detekt has been released by Berlin-based security researcher Claudio Guarnieri at resistsurveillance.org. The tool scans Windows machines for surveillance spyware used to target and monitor human rights defenders and journalists around the world.” The tool only tells you if it can find surveillance software not guarantee none exists. The software was developed in partnership with the EFF, Digitale Gesellschaft, Privacy International and Amnesty International.

KAPT_Kipper pointed out the TechCrunch story that free open source anti-surveillance tool called Detekt has been released by Berlin-based security researcher Claudio Guarnieri at resistsurveillance.org. The tool scans Windows machines for surveillance spyware used to target and monitor human rights defenders and journalists around the world.” The tool only tells you if it can find surveillance software not guarantee none exists. The software was developed in partnership with the EFF, Digitale Gesellschaft, Privacy International and Amnesty International.

habichuelacondulce passed along the Consumerist report about a graphic designer in Tennessee who was moving an hour away. He called his cable company and was told he could move his business class broadband service to his new location. But the installer never showed up! The man called his cable company again and was told his new address wasn’t served by the company and he owed $2,789 in early termination fees. Anyone want to guess the cable company? Veronica? Anyone? A local news station got involved and–you guessed it–Comcast, confirmed the early termination fee, but then said there were extenuating circumstances in the case and the fee would be waived. Good job, WSMV Nashville. Next up, a monkey that goes bananas for basketball!

Discussion Section: Fitness Trackers

http://www.prevention.com/health/healthy-living/tech-report-coolest-health-and-fitness-trackers-today-and-tomorrow

http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2014/11/20/basis-peak-fitness-tracker-gets-notifications-stylish-new-watch-bands/

https://www.fitbit.com/store?gclid=CjwKEAiAv7ajBRCIldS7rp7wzFkSJAAA1n4DJjrdS4rlayFN_j3kop3tSZy7D3iUyhnPU9Vl00PbzBoCXZLw_wcB

Pick of the Day: Bomgar via Greg Harris

Check out Bomgar.com for the best in enterprise remote desktop support for nearly every platform. It’s simple, intuitive, comprehensive, and full featured. It’s available for hosted or managed and can be virtual or appliance based.

Friday’s guests: Darren Kitchen and Len Peralta

 

Iyaz Akhtar joins us to look a little closer at what Apple Watchkit tells us about the Apple Watch, get a report on the Jolla Tablet from Slush in Helsinki, and find out why zero-rating data doesn’t seem to bother Australians.

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: Iyaz Akhtar of cnet.com and the GFQ Network

Headlines:

MacRumors passes along the Financial Times story that Apple will put the Beats app into iOS making it a default app on every iPhone and iPad starting early next year, possibly as early as March. FT’s sources indicate Beat swill remain a paid subscription service but may get rebranded under iTunes.

The Next Web reports Samsung is adding curated video to its Milk music streaming service. Milk Video brings selected clips from the likes of Vevo, Funny or Die, Vice and more. You can’t add video, but you can follow certain providers and if you register, you can swipe away videos you don’t like so the system learns your preferences. You can download Milk from the Google Play store but it only works on Samsung Galaxy devices.

That’s right the Jolla tablet soared past its $380,000 crowdfunding goal in a couple hours and is on its way to a million. Other specs on the 8-inch tablet include a 2048×1536 display, 1.8GHz quad-core Intel processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage and five-megapixel camera. Jolla expects to start shipping in Q2 2015. It started at $189 on indiegogo but is now $204.

TechCrunch reports BitTorrent announced it will move its Sync cloud storage product out of beta in early 2015 as Sync 2.0. Free users will get an upgraded interface, syncing and apps. A new Pro tier will be added for $40 a year that gives users access to very large folders, control of file permissions and ownership, automatic sync and priority tech support. After Sync 2.0 launches, BitTorrent plans a mobile app to make it easy to send and receive large files.

Engadget reports Nielsen will begin tracking viewership of streaming video services Amazon and Netflix next month. The system identifies shows by their audio. The data could prove useful for companies who sell shows to Netflix and Amazon. Neither company shares viewership data, which makes it hard to know how valuable any particular show might be to the companies.

Netflix officially announced today that it will launch in Australia and New Zealand in March 2015. CNET reports a price hasn’t been set yet, but Australians will be able to sign up for a free one-month trial, then chose from three pricing plans. New Zealanders and Australians can sign up now for updates at https://www.netflix.com/global

And Engdaget reports on China’s Meizu unveiling the highest screen resolution in the current smartphone market in its new MX4 Pro. The followup to the MX4 has a 5.5-inch 2560 x 1536 resolution which they call 2K-Plus. The phone also has a fingerprint reader called mTouch and high-fiedlity audio that Meizu called ‘retina sound’ which might be bad for your eyes if literal. What it really means is a 32-bit digital audio converter from ESS and a TI OPA1612 amp. It comes to China December 6th for CN¥2,499 ($410) at 16GB on up to ¥3,099 ($510) for the 64 GB.

Gigaom reports that British telecommunications regulator Ofcom will free up spectrum in the 700MHz range for mobile broadband use by the start of 2022. That range of spectrum is used for 4G/LTE in the U.S. and Asia. In the UK free-to-view digital TV and wireless broadcast microphones currently use the 700MHz band.

News From You:

Hurmoth submitted the Ars Technica report that the US Senate only got 58 of the 60 votes it needed to pas the USA Freedom Act which would have placed limits on NSA surveillance. Bulk phone surveillance would have ended and data would have remained with phone companies and only searched by request with specific terms. It would have also added a privacy advocate to the secret FISA Court. The bill was supported by several cicil liberties groups and law enforcement agencies including Director of the NSA James Clapper.

ShamelessTub passed along a BBC report about Tony and Jan Jenkinson, who who had a bad experience in a hotel in Blackpool, England. The elderly couple posted a negative review about The Broadway Hotel on TripAdvisor. The hotel then charged the couple £100 on their credit card for the bad review, per hotel policy, which Mrs. Jenkinson didn’t read, because she wasn’t wearing her glasses. The UK Trading Standards Council is investigating whether the hotel is in violation of trading practice regulations.

In the latest episode of The Wire ancrod2 pointed out the Ars Technica article that Baltimore natural PO-lice withdrew evidence from a court case against a 16-year-old robbery suspect rather than reveal how information leading to an arrest was obtained. Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams asked Detective John L. Haley how police located the suspect’s phone. Detective McNulty – I mean Haley cited a non-disclosure agreement prevent ed him from revealing the information. Jude Williams said “ “You don’t have a nondisclosure agreement with the court!” according to the Baltimore Sun. Prosecution withdrew the phone and a gun from evidence but intend to continue the case. One can imagine many bottles of Jameson’s were smashed by the railroad tracks that night.

starfuryzeta passed along an Engadget report that Uber is now investigating itself for violations of its own privacy policy. Apparently Uber’s New York general manager Josh Mohrer used Uber’s so-called “God View” tool to track the movements of Buzzfeed reporter Johana [Boo-YIN] Bhuiyan in two instances: one in order to meet the reporter for an interview and a second time to use as an example in an email meant to answer questions related to a story on Uber competitor Lyft. The problem is the reporter did NOT give Mohrer permission in either instance. Uber’s privacy policy states that employees at all levels are prohibited from accessing rider or driver data, unless it is for a limited set of “legitimate business purposes” including facilitating payments, monitoring fraud, and troubleshooting.

In addition, entrepreneur Peter Sims told Reuters he considered suing Uber after his location was broadcast to a room at an Uber launch party without his permission.

Discussion Section: Apple watch

http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/18/7243085/most-important-apple-watchkit-discoveries

http://thenextweb.com/apple/2014/11/18/meet-apples-new-font-designed-watch/

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2014/11/18Developers-Start-Designing-Apps-for-Apple-Watch.html

https://developer.apple.com/watchkit/#agreement

https://gigaom.com/2014/11/19/how-good-wearable-design-can-actually-reduce-tech-distractions/

Pick of the Day:  One Tab via Bill Burlingame

I’m obsessive about browser tabs. I keep many tabs open in several instances of Chrome all the time and I like to have them in a particular order. I have found the Recent Tabs selection in Chrome to be unreliable. Several weeks ago, Allyn Malventano of PC Perspective gave this as his tip. It’s a Chrome extension called One Tab. I have been using One Tab since then.

Bill Burlingame
Huntsville, AL

Thursday’s guest: Jill Duffy, writer and senior analyst at pcmag.com

Loading…

Patrick Beja is in residence today and Nokia just surprised us all with a tablet. Is this the resurrection of the old Nokia? Should Microsoft be angry?

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 guests: Patrick Beja, DTNS correspondent and host of Le Rendez-vous Tech and Pixels podcast

Headlines:

Facebook launched a new standalone app today from its Creative Labs team, called Groups. Gigaom reports the app– as you might expect– helps users manage their Facebook Groups. Users can create a group, keep up with the latest posts in their existing groups, and search for new groups based on interests. Unlike Facebook’s standalone Messenger App, no one is going to force you to download this one. You can still access your groups through the original Facebook app.

Nokia announced a new tablet called the Nokia N1. The 7.9-inch tablet uses Nokia’s Z Launcher app and runs Android Lollipop and uses an Intel Atom Z3580 processor AND uses the new reversible Type C USB Connector but only at USB 2.0 speeds. Nokia designed the tablet which will be made and sold by FoxConn. It will come to China first around Feb. 19th— Chinese New Year— then to Europe later— and be priced at the equivalent of US$249.

Ars Technica writes up the controversy over Uber Senior VP of Business Emil Michael saying Uber should hire researchers to look into personal lives of journalists and give the media a “taste of its own medicine.” Michael specifically criticized Sarah Lacy of PandoDaily for accusing Uber of “sexism and misogyny” and intimated there was a ‘specific claim’ Uber could prove about her life. The remarks were made at a dinner for Uber execs and journalists in Manhattan on Friday. Uber thought the meeting was off the record, a BuzzFeed editor was not informed of that. Michael stated his remarks were wrong and he regrets them. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick posted several times to Twitter explaining among other things that Michael’s remarks were terrible and do not represent the company.

The Verge reports Apple released WatchKit today, giving developers the tools they need to begin coding and testing apps for the Apple Watch. Watch apps can have their own interface, add a page to the Glances screen and send notifications. All apps must be extensions of existing iOS apps. Tools for native watch apps won’t come until later next year. Still no word on when the watches themselves will be launched.

PC World reports Intel will megre its PC and mobile processor divisions as the line between tablets and laptops continues to blur. The new division will be called the Client Computing Group encompasing Core and Atom processor teams. The Mobile and Communications group will send its Atom processor team to the new group and its modem teams move to a new wireless R&D group. Kirk Skaugen, lead of the PC Client Group will lead the new combined team which takes effect sometime after Jan. 1.

The BBC reports that scientists at Google have created machine-learning software that can accurately describe what a photograph looks like using simple language. The software uses a neural network trained to recognize images, then runs that data through a neural network designed to generate simple language and voila, captions! The software could be used to help visually impaired people understand pictures, provide alternate text for images in places where mobile connections are too slow for images, and put every caption writer on earth out of business.

In a move that sounds dangerously like what HTC was saying a few years ago, Samsung’s head of investor relations Robert Yi told investors Samsung plans to make fewer phones next year, according to the WSJ. GigaOm said the company plans to cut its list of current devices by at least a quarter. So heads up Galaxy Active, Galaxy Star, Galaxy Pocket 2, Galaxy Ace Style LTE, Galaxy J, Galaxy Core Lite LTE, Galaxy Core Advance, Galaxy Grand Prime, Galaxy S III Mini VE, Galaxy Alpha, Galaxy V, Galaxy Avant, Galaxy Mega, Galaxy Mega 2, Galaxy Grand Neo, and Galaxy W.

Reuters reports on IBM’s new email app for business that combines social media, file sharing and other analytics to predict interactions with coworkers. The app– called IBM Verse– does not want to rat you out to the boss– but rather act as a personal assistant and do things like draft response emails based on pervious interactions.

 

 

News From You:

metalfreak sent along the PC world article that a Certificate Authority called ‘Let’s Encrypt’ will start providing website owners with free SSL/TLS certificates starting sometime in Q2 next year. The CA will be run by a new public benefit corporation called Internet Security Research Group set up by Mozilla, the EFF and others. IN an attempt to get as many people as possible using TLS, ‘Lets Encrypt’ will automate certification issuance, configuration and renewal processes. Another primary sponsor, existing CA IdenTrust will cross-sign the certificates.

Peter_File pointed out the Verge article about WhatsApp’s Android app adding strong end-to-end encryption by default. WhatsApp partnered with Open Whisper Systems, developers of TextSecure among other apps. Open Whisper CTO Moxie Marlinspike says it took six months to get the code ready for the huge deployment.

metalfreak passed along an Ars Technica report that Honorable Ernest H. Goldsmith of San Francisco Superior Court ruled that Google’s search results qualify as free speech. S. Louis Martin of a website called CoastNews sued Google for violating antitrust laws because it put its site lower in search results, than Bing or Yahoo. The site also sued over Google’s refusal to deliver ads to CoastNews after the site posted photographs of a nudist colony. But the court decided that Google is protected by the First Amendment and has the right to organize its search results as it sees fit.

Discussion Section: Nokia N1 Tablet

https://gigaom.com/2014/11/18/non-microsoft-nokia-launches-android-n1-tablet-and-z-launcher/

https://www.zlauncher.com/

http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/18/7239695/nokia-n1-first-tablet-with-reversible-usb

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8733/nokia-announces-n1-tablet-79-powered-by-android

http://bgr.com/2014/11/18/nokia-n1-release-date-specs-android-5-0-lollipop-tablet/

http://n1.nokia.com/

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/11/nokia-launches-an-android-tablet-with-smartphones-likely-to-follow/

Pick of the Day:  myfav.es

My pick is myfav.es I use it for my browser start screen on our Win7 HTPC with Logitech K400 to make life easier for my wife. She’s been happy with it, so I’ve never ventured to anything like Plex or XBMC.

Wednesday’s guest: Iyaz Akhtar of cnet.com!

Justin Young is on the show today and we’ll talk about Uber’s integration with Spotify. Will anyone use it? And if so will it become a nightmare for drivers?

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 guests: Justin Robert Young, DTNS correspondent

Headlines:

New York City is getting free gigabit WiFi. TechCrunch reports that a public-private consortium will begin building wifi enabled kiosks all around the five boroughs, beginning in 2015. The LinkNYC kiosks will have an encrypted network connection and offer free phone calls to anywhere in the U.S, as well as a touchscreen tablet interface to access city services, interactive maps, free emergency and information calls, charging stations and displays for advertising and public service announcements. They will also feature display advertising space which the city expects will generate $500 million in revenue over the next twelve years.

Good news for iOS 8 users with older devices. 9 to 5 mac reports that Apple has released iOS 8.1.1, which will improve performance for older A5-powered devices, including the iPad2 and iPhone 4s. Apple also release OS X 10.10.1, with wi-fi performance fixes, as well as a maintenance update for third-generation Apple TVs, also known as version 7.0.2. So far no reports of install issues with any of the updates.

GigaOm passes a long a Financial Times report that Facebook is testing a new product called Facebook for Work. Rather than be a clever way to hide your Facebook surfing while at work. the service would instead allow users to chat with colleague, make professional contacts and do boring job-enhancing things like collaborating on documents. Work accounts would be separated from personal accounts. TechCrunch previously uncovered info about the project back in June.

Spotify announced today it will launch a partnership with Uber in ten cities around the world on Nov. 21st that will let Spotify Premium users choose the music in their Uber rides. Users can link their Uber and Spotify accounts today. The feature is opt-in for the driver so not all cars will have it. Meanwhile TechCrunch reports developer Ethan Lee has uncovered code in Spotify’s app indicating it may add a special section for podcasts at some point. That was obvious because the entry in the code was called ‘Podcasts.’ Lee found another entry called ‘Magic’ that obviously means Spotify will be incorporating magic in its app at some point.

Engadget reports Sony just launched a stacked CMOS photo sensor for smartphones, the Exmor RS IMX230, that puts 21 megapixels into a 1/2.4-inch sized form factor. It has 192-point phase-detection autofocus and integrated HDR for high-res photos and 4K video. Pretty much its being called dSLR features in a smartphone sensor. The iPhone 6 and OnePlus One use current version of the Exmor sensor. This new Exmore RS sensor should appear in April.

The Next Web reports Apple announced Chinese customers can now use Union Pay cards with their iTunes accounts. Previously Chinese customers had to transfer money into their App Store account before making purchase. Now they can just make a purchase and be charged directly.

TechCrunch reports that a group of technology companies wrote a letter urging the US Senate to pass the USA Freedom Act, a bill that would prevent bulk collection of Internet metadata and increase transparency about government demands for user information from technology companies. The letetr was written on behalf of the Reform Government Surveillance Group which includes AOL, Apple, Dropbox, Evernote, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter, and Yahoo. The bill could come before the Senate this week.

The US State Department shut down its entire unclassified email system this weekend so engineers could repair possible damage from a suspected attack. A senior state department official said “activity of concern” was first detected around the same time as the October incident that targeted the White house unclassified computer network. No word yet on who was responsible for the State Department breach, but the official said no classified systems were affected.

Recode reports that Snapchat unveiled a new feature powered by Square, that allows you to send and receive money through the Snapchat app. Here’s how it works: Users type out the dollar amount they want to send as part of a private message. The app recognizes the dollar sign + number and presents a green payment button, which users tap to activate payment. We’re trying to confirm if the money stays or disappears after 12 seconds.

News From You:

metalfreak pointed out last Thursday’s Science Daily post about A3, a software suite that attempts to recognize and eliminate never-before-seen malware, repair any damage it caused and prevent against future infection. A team of computer scientists at the University of Utah led by research assistant professor Eric Eide and associate professor John Regehr developed the software. A3 detects unusual OS behavior and stops it. As a test it discovered and repaired a Shellshock attack in 4 minutes. The software is open source and is designed to protect servers running Linux.

starfuryzeta posted the Guardian story that Google’s Project Loon is coming to Australia in conjunction with Telstra. 20 balloons will fly in western Queensland in December as a test. The balloons beam Internet signals to homes and phones. Telstra will provide base stations and spectrum. Google tested the project in Christchurch, New Zealand last June. The goal of Project Loon it to eventual circle the whole Earth providing Internet connectivity to unwired areas.

jaymz668 let us know about the Ars Technica article about Martijn Wismeijer, a Dutch entrepreneur and Bitcoin enthusiast, who embedded an NFC chip in each hand. One encodes love and the other hate. I mean one hand he overwrites with things like contact details and the other contains the encrypted key to his private BitCoin wallet. He uses it to stock ATMs that are part of his company Mr. Bitcoin. He also would like to get NFC-enabled locks so he can unlock doors with his hand.

Discussion Section: Riding in Cars with Noise

http://thenextweb.com/opinion/2014/11/17/think-ubers-deal-spotify-awful-idea/

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/11/17/official-spotify-uber-team-let-control-music-ride/

http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/14/uber-music/

https://news.spotify.com/us/2014/11/17/uber/

http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/17/uber-spotify-bmw/?ncid=rss

Pick of the Day: Alien Blue via Andrew Hughes from epic Portland

Andrew from epic Portland here and I want to recommend the reddit app Alien Blue for iOS. It’s got a ton of different features but the things that make it stand out the most to me are how it manages your subreddits and how easy it is to share a post. I definitely think that any redditor that has an iOS device needs this app. Thank you to everyone at DTNS for a great podcast keep up the amazing work.

Tuesday’s guest: Patrick Beja, DTNS correspondent

Molly wood is on the show and we’ll dig into what’s really going on with the net neutrality fight and hopefully dispel a few myths from all sides. Plus, Len Peralta is here to illustrate 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, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guests: Molly Wood, personal technology columnist for The New York Times and Len Peralta, artist and co-author of Exterminite graphic novel

Time is running out to get drawn into an epic DTNS YEAR ONE poster drawn by Len Peralta. Head on over to Len’s patreon site to be forever immortalized as a DTNS Year One Supporter!

Headlines:

GigaOm passes along Microsoft announcing a beta rollout of Skype in the browser using a plugin for IE, Firefox, Chrome and Safari. Microsoft intends to move the system to WebRTC. The rollout should begin at Skype.com in the coming weeks, according to Microsoft.

The Next Web reports Amazon announced a Kindle update with the new Family Library feature that lets users access their spouse or partner’s accounts as well as manage up to four children’s accounts. Amazon did not say how they plan to confirm who is a spouse, partner or child, or what happens in family’s with five children. Also new: Word Wise, a feature that adds simple definitions above words. You can wait for it to show up on your Kindle or download the update today at Amazon.com.

The Masque threat that can infect iOS by piggybacking on OS X apps continues to make headlines. The San Jose Mercury News reports Apple commented on the matter saying “We’re not aware of any customers that have actually been affected by this attack.” Apple encourages its users to only download software from trusted sources like the App store.

GigaOm reports on IBM’s plan to build two new supercomputers for the US Department of Energy called Summit and Sierra that would roll out in 2017. Both computers will be based on IBM’s Power servers with NVIDIA GPU accelerators and Mellanox networking tech. They should deliver more than 100 peak petaflops, beating China’s Tianhe-2’s current top mark of 55 peak petaflops. Summit will live at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Sierra will go to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. They’ll work on things climate change problems, predicting natural disasters, overthrowing their human masters without detection, stuff like that.

Europe’s Telecom Package including net neutrality rules and elimination of roaming fees is being considered for approval by member states. But GigaOm reports it may be called back for revision before it can be approved. The rules have a tight definition allowing specialized services and sponsored data but otherwise most all packets must be treated equally. The Wall Street Journal saw a “working document” indicating a revamp of not yet finalized laws. European Commission Chief Jean-Claude Junckerrecommends a Digital Single Market Package and the replacement of Digital Agenda chief Neelie Kroes is now VP for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip.

The Economic Times of India reports that German software company SAP has agreed to pay Oracle more than $359 million to settle a longstanding copyright battle. Back in 2007, an SAP subsidiary called TomorrowNow offered software support to Oracle customers at a lower price than Oracle itself. So Oracle accused SAP of stealing software in order to offer those services. A previous US jury had ruled that SAP owed Oracle 1.3 BILLION dollars, but a judge ordered that reduced, and then Oracle got upset, and now here we are in 2014–TomorrowNow has been closed since 2008, Larry Ellison has an island, and a bunch of lawyers just ordered the really GOOD wine.

Reuters reports the FCC has requested AT&T provide specifics regarding their plans to delay Fiber deployment in 100 cities. The FCC is reviewing AT&T’s proposed $48.5 billion bid to buy satellite operator DirecTV. As part of the merger proposal, AT&T agreed to provide high-speed fiber Internet to 2 million homes if the deal is approved.

News From You:

starfuryzeta found out in an Ars Technica post that the Wall Street Journal says the US Marshals Service has been using small fixed-wing Cessnas with Digital Receiver Technology, AKA “dirtboxes” — that mimic cell towers, to gather data from phones on the ground. The intent is to spy on fugitives and criminal phones but the boxes don’t discriminate between criminals and other people. The devices are used only after a court order is issued. The boxes can collect registration info, texts, photos, jam signals and interrupt calls.

gowlkick sent us a Slate article about a German cloud infrastructure company called Cloud & Heat that distributes its servers to people willing to store them in exchange for the free heat emitted. Customers pay to have a Cloud&Heat fire-proof cabinet installed–the cost is comparable to installing a standard heating system. Then Cloud&Heat pays for the electricity and Internet service it needs and the owner gets free heat and hot water. Excess heat is stored in water in a “buffering tank” and vented outside in the spring and summer.

erceth passes along The New York Times report that the prestigious A.M. Turing Award, often called the Nobel Prize of computer science, will now present a 1 million dollar award to the winner, thanks to Google. The Turing Award had carried prize money of $250,000 and was jointly underwritten by Google and Intel since 2007. When Intel stepped away as a funder, Google upped the award amount to match the prize amount for Nobel winners.

Discussion Section: BOL 1089 Net Neutrality

http://www.wired.com/2014/11/comcast-wants-president-know-net-neutrality-just-fine/

http://strawpoll.me/2989878/r

http://www.wired.com/2013/07/we-need-to-stop-focusing-on-just-cable-companies-and-blame-local-government-for-dismal-broadband-competition/

https://www.techdirt.com/blog/wireless/articles/20120724/03084419805/explanation-why-verizon-is-driving-dsl-users-to-competitors-cable-lines.shtml

https://www.techdirt.com/blog/netneutrality/articles/20141112/07323529118/att-pouts-freezes-mostly-bogus-fiber-to-press-release-deployments-net-neutrality-bluff.shtml

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/07/10/this-practically-ancient-internet-technology-supports-speeds-1000-times-the-national-average/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-kushnick/is-verizon-wireless-profit-pumping_b_4133497.html

http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/09/want-gigabit-fiber-home-internet-move-to-one-of-these-cities/

http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/04/one-big-reason-we-lack-internet-competition-starting-an-isp-is-really-hard/2/

http://io9.com/which-state-has-the-best-internet-access-in-the-nation-1658816647

http://www.newamerica.org/oti/the-cost-of-connectivity-2014/

Pick of the Day: TTS Pocket via Rolando

Hi Tom,  You said your Pocket is full of articles you wanted to read, but never got a chance to go over them.  It happens. But you may want to try the TTS feature of Pocket and then you can listen to them whenever you are unable to read.  Thanks for the show. Love it!

Rolando
– your fan from Paraguay

Monday’s guest: Justin Robert Young, DTNS contributor

Jason Hiner and Lyndsey Gilpin join the show and we’ll talk about Facebook’s new privacy tutorials and proposed privacy policies.

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Show Notes

Today’s guest: Jason Hiner, editor in chief of Tech Republic & Lyndsey Gilpin, staff writer at Tech Republic

Headlines:

The Next Web reports Facebook has launched a ‘Privacy Basics’ site to help people understand what options they have to protect their privacy while using the social network. The company also has made public their proposed new terms of service which are written in plain language. Users have until November 20 to provide feedback on Terms and Conditions, Data Usage and Cookies policies.

Sony is the first of the potential cord-cutter TV services to announce they’re ready to go. PlayStation Vue will offer live and on demand programming from more than 75 channels. Subscribers will need Internet and a PS3 or PS4. Sony intends to launch an iPad app too as well as apps for other devices. Networks include NBC Universal, Fox, Viacom and Scripps, but NOT ABC/Disney or Time Warner’s HBO. The service will launch in invite-only beta this month in New York, followed by Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angels. Sony intends to launch commercially in Q1 of 2015.

TechCrunch reports the Great Book War of 2014 has ended, just in time for the holiday shopping season. Amazon and the Hachette Book Group have agreed on a new multi-year agreement for e-book and print sales. Hachette will set its own prices for e-books, the so-called Agency model, but will receive “better terms” (aka more promotion) when those prices are closer to Amazon’s guidelines. The new prices will take effect in 2015, but Amazon will stop holding back pre-orders for Hachette titles now.

Reuters reports BlackBerry announced its new mobile security and device management platform Thursday. BES12 will let companies and government agencies manage Android, iOS and Windows devices along with BlackBerry’s own products. It will also be able to handle medical diagnostic equipment, indsutrial machinery and motor vehicles. Among the partnerships is one with Samsung to combine BB device management with Samsung’s KNOX Security platform for Android phones starting in early 2015. BlackBerry also announced partnerships with Salesforce.com and wireless distribution company Brightstar.

According to The Next Web, Nvidia announced the North American launch of its new cloud gaming service, called Grid. The service launches November 18th, and requires an Nvidia Shield tablet or handheld, on a 10 Mbps internet connection with a ping of 60ms or less to Grid servers. Once you have all that in place, you can play 20 games at launch including Batman: Arkham City, Borderlands 2 and Darksiders II and the service is free until June 30. Nvidia also revealed that its Shield tablet will upgrade to Android 5.0 Lollipop on November 18th.

The Verge drops a little mathematical reality on the Taylor Swift Spotify grudge match. Spotify’s founder Daniel Ek said that Swift was projected to earn $6 million on his service, before she pulled all her tracks. Then the head of Swift’s label Scott Borchetta said, WTF? Spotify only gave us $500,000! Turns out, both numbers are true. Spotify paid Ms. Swift $500k for her US streams. Globally, they paid T-Swift $2 million dollars.The six million number Ek used was, as he said, projected earnings over time. Granted they were the most optimistic projection he could use since that gave him the biggest number.

Ars Technica reports Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington DC ruled country code top-level domains cannot be transferred as part of a civil judgement. The plaintiffs in Rubin v. Islamic Republic of Iran sought to have the top-level domains for Iran, Syria and North Korea transferred in compensation for damages awarded in a case brought regarding a 1997 suicide bombing in Jerusalem by Hamas. The Court determined that country code top level domains cannot be conceptualized apart from domain name services and therefore cannot be garnished.

TechCrunch reports Reddit CEO Yishan Yong has resigned. Investor Sam Altman wrote on his blog that Yong resigned due to a disagreement about the price and location of a new Reddit office. COO Ellen Pao has become interim CEO and co-founder Alexis Ohanian has returned as full time executive chairman.

Microsoft said on Twitter today “We plan to upgrade all Windows Phone 8 devices to Windows 10 in the future.” So there you go folks. Upgrade path assured.

News From You:

anotherjmartin gave us the Ars Technica story that digital rights activists are continuing to criticize AT&T subsidiary Cricket for preventing email from being protected by STARTTLS by removing the STARTTLS flag that causes the encryption to take effect. EFF staff technologist Jacob Hoffman-Andrews posted Tuesday that ISPs must stop removing customer security measures. Last week VPN provider Golden Frog petitioned the FCC opposing the practice. A Golden Frog engineer discovered the issue. In our Oct. 15 show, Patrick Wolfe wrote in to note he had used Cisco ASA firewall software that broke STARTLS in a very similar way and speculated that might be going on with Cricket.

tm204 sent us a BBC article about physicists from the University of Vienna using the “twist” of a visible light beam to transmit information by laser through the sky above Vienna. Here’s how it worked. Twisted light photons, aka light with “orbital angular momentum” can twist like a corkscrew. Researchers set up a green laser in a tower and shone it on a spacial light modulator, which twisted the beam twice. When the light showed up on a screen three kilometers away it had a detectable pattern of dots, which the scientists then used to transmit black and white images. It could be used for fast transmission of data where separate channels can be sent simultaneously. The results were reported in the New Journal of Physics

Discussion Section: Facebook has new Terms of Service

http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2014/11/13/facebook-proposes-changes-tcs-gets-basics-new-privacy-guides/

https://www.facebook.com/about/basics

https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/?id=541939745937896

http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/11/updating-our-terms-and-policies-helping-you-understand-how-facebook-works-and-how-to-control-your-information/

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/facebook-tries-to-explain-its-privacy-settings-but-advertising-still-rules/?_r=0

http://recode.net/2014/11/13/facebooks-new-privacy-rules-clear-the-wear-for-a-payments-push-and-location-based-ads/

http://venturebeat.com/2014/11/13/facebook-expands-ads-based-on-sites-and-apps-you-use-to-australia-canada-france-germany-ireland-and-uk/

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102138902#.

https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads&section=platform&view

Pick of the Day: Desert Bus via krvhill

Charity season is here and I wanted to pick my favorite “desert bus for hope” https://desertbus.org a comedy troupe playing the world’s most boring videogame for child’s play charity. It is in its eighth year and keeps getting bigger. If you prefer different games check the schedule at http://www.childsplaycharity.org to see a list of other webathons coming in the next months.

Friday’s Guests: Molly Wood and Len Peralta