Category Archives: Daily Tech News Show

DTNS 2390 – Cute Is the New Black

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comDarren Kitchen is here and we’ll talk about the FBI’s identification of North Korea as responsible for the Sony attack. Should we believe them? Also the FCC gets sneaky and gets sneaked upon. Plus Len Peralta bravely illustrates the great leader.

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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:  Darren Kitchen,  founder of hak5.org and Len Peralta, author and artist

http://www.patreon.com/len

Headlines

The US FBI announced today that it has concluded that the North Korean government is responsible for the attacks on Sony Pictures Entertainment’s internal systems. The FBI cited similarities in code, infrastructure and tools used in previous attacks they have attributed to North Korea. Meanwhile Ars Technica reports on a public note claiming to be from Guardians of Peace saying Sony could released The Interview as long as it deleted the assassination scene. CNN reported a source from Sony told it that an email was sent asking for all trace of the movie to be eliminated. And the US President said he wish Sony had spoken to him first before bowing to pressure not to release the movie. Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton said his company “spoke to a senior advisor in the White House” and told CNN “We have not given in. And we have not backed down. We have always had every desire to have the American public see this movie,” shifting responsibility to the theater owners.

The Telegraph reports Apple is upset at allegations by the BBC’s Panorama program that workers at a Pegatron plant that makes Apple products are being mistreated. Undercover reporters for Panorama brought back video of sleeping workers and alleged denial of days off, refusal to surrender government IDs and coercion in filling out forms regarding voluntary work choices. Apple senior vice president of operations Jeff Williams said both himself and CEO Tim Cook were “deeply offended by the report. Williams claims suppliers have achieved an average of 93 per cent compliance with the 60-hour workweek limit this year. Pegatron said they were carefully investigating the BBC’s claims, and will take “all necessary actions”.

ReCode reports T-Mobile USA has settled a lawsuit with the US Federal Trade Commission that accused the company of profiting from unauthorized charges known as cramming. At least $90 million will be returned to subscribers who can show that they had to pay the unauthorized charges, which includes $22.5 million in fines that T-Mobile will pay to the states and Federal Communications Commission for the violations. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued Sprint for a similar matter earlier this week. AT&T settled a similar FTC complaint in October for $105 million.

Tech Crunch reports that Facebook is releasing a new app today called “Stickered for Messenger”. The app allows users to select one their own images, resize it and paste a virtual sticker on top, then send it to their friends. The app was built by Facebook’s Creative Labs mobile design studio, and it is the first companion app for Messenger. Stickered For Messenger will be available later today on Android and is coming to iOS soon. The Messenger app itself is receiving a speed boost and new animated sending/sent/delivered/read receipts.

Google today filed a lawsuit in Mississippi district court against Mississippi attorney general Jim Hood for serving the search company a “burdensome retaliatory subpoena.” Hood has claimed that Google’s anti-piracy provisions violate a Mississippi consumer protection law. Google has also issued a document preservation notice to both the MPAA and the law firm Jenner & Block, asking them to retain documents related to a so-called Goliath campaign Umm, hello? I think you movie guys just woke a sleeping Goliath.

Reuters reports its sources say Google is working on a version of Android that would be embedded in cars. This would be different than Android Auto which transmits data from a phone to a car’s screen. The embedded version would always work whether a phone was in the car or not. It will supposedly come along with the Android M OS.

GigaOm reports BlackBerry is profitable! One cent a share but STILL! PROFITABLE! It also generated a positive cash flow of $43 million in the last quarter. And the good news pretty much ends there. Smartphone sales were down to 1.9 million from 2.4 million in the previous quarter. Service revenue was also down 12 percent from the previous quarter. But hey, PROFITABLE!

The Washington Post cites industry officials who say the US House of representatives will consider legislation in the new year to prevent ISPs from blocking or slowing down certain websites while also providing a new provision for regulation of broadband providers called Title X. That would make Title II classification unnecessary.

 

Meanwhile the FCC slipped out an official notice of proposed rulemaking to consider widening the definition of a Multichannel Video Programming Distributor to include Internet delivery alongside cable and satellite. The change would technically remove the requirement that an MVPD have transmission facilities thus allowing the use of the Internet as that facility. All that means broadcasters have to negotiate for carriage with anyone who wants to carry multiple channels of live TV.

News From You

Jaymz668 posted a TechDiret column by Timothy Geigner describing a fight in southwest Chicago over whether to add filters to Internet access in the Orland Park Public Library. After a complaint from a mother, the board decided not to install filters but instead ask for ID. However the mother and others have continued to press the board to install filters. Geigner states that open access to the unfiltered Internet for adults should be defended.

spsheridan sent us the Wired UK report that International Space Station commander Barry Wilmore needed a ratcheting socket wrench. Which was kind of a bummer, because he left his on EARTH. Normally, Wilmore would have had to wait months for the next ISS resupply. But the folks who made the 3D printer on the space station overheard th eproblem and whipped up a quick design for the wrench. Then NASA emailed Wilmore the design, he printed it out on the station’s 3-D printer and hey presto SPACE WRENCH!

jaymz668 passes along a Consumerist article about a US Department of Commerce report on broadband competition. At 10 Mbps 70% of US citizens have a choice between two companies and 28% have a choice between 3. Only 85% have 25 Mbps service or faster available. At that speed 37% have a choice between two providers and 9% can choose among three. 59% have access to 100 Mbps service and 8% have a choice between two providers at that speed the rest have one choice. 3% have access to gigabit fiber and only one choice in all those areas.

Discussion Links:

http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/update-on-sony-investigation

http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/12/fbi-claims-north-korean-involvement-in-sony-pictures-attack/

http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/12/hackers-tell-sony-the-interview-may-release-now-with-edits/

http://recode.net/2014/12/19/live-blog-president-obama-to-address-north-korean-role-in-sony-hack/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/white-house-says-sony-hack-is-a-serious-national-security-matter/2014/12/18/01eb8324-86ea-11e4-b9b7-b8632ae73d25_story.html

Pick of the Day: 

Tom,

When you were discussing the need for batch renaming tools you mentioned that you would sometimes need this for renaming digital camera files with a date or location instead of just having them named something like IMG_0001.JPG.

I use “geosetter” to read the EXIF header and automatically rename the files with the date the pictures were taken. There are options to choose the date format or embed some descriptive words in the filename.

http://www.geosetter.de/en/

Love the show,
John from Silicon Valley

=====

Thanks for fielding this question, and many thanks for the great feedback from the DTNS community, Alex Hana and Darren Kitchen

While researching this on my own, I stumbled on a web site that crowd sources alternative technology solutions. So, here’s a pick from me:

AlternativeTo
http://alternativeto.net/

(And here’s the one for Truecrypt)
http://alternativeto.net/software/truecrypt/

I haven’t used it a lot yet, but it let’s you ​vote on nominated alternatives, has a review and comments section for each solution.

​Thanks again! Mike​

Facebook Developer’s Conference alert link:

https://www.fbf8.com/portal/preForm.ww

DTNS 2389 – Les Is More

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comRaj Deut joins us to talk about how Australia wants to START retaining innocent people’s data, and what we actually know about the Sony Pictures attacks.

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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:  Raj Deut, Raj Deut, Lead developer for @efront, writer for @ReckonerAU

Headlines

While CNN and the New York Times reported that a US agency would tie the attacks on Sony Pictures Entertainment to North Korea, we have as yet received no such statement. Instead White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters only that the attack was done by a “sophisticated actor,” and he was not in a position to confirm a nation as responsible. Earnst said the US National Security Council was considering a proportionate response mindful that some organizations or individuals might try to enhance their standing by provoking a specific response. Meanwhile Variety reports a spokesman for Sony saying the studio has no further release plans for “The Interview.” And The Daily Beast reports three movie theaters have said Paramount studios has ordered them to stop planned screenings of Team America: World Police.

The Verge reports Microsoft’s obligation to provide users a screen promoting choices in browsers has expired after five years. Microsoft will remove the so-called Browser Ballot saying, “the Browser Choice Update will no longer be delivered to new users.”

The Next Web reports messaging app maker Line is acquiring Microsoft’s MixRadio music streaming service. MixRadio will continue maintain its personalized music service fro Microsoft’s Lumia phones. MixRadio was developed as a Nokia service before its handset division was acquired by Microsoft. The deal is expected to be completed in early 2015.

Engadget reports that Micromax has revealed its first Yu (that’s Y-U) smartphone, the Yureka (that’s Y-U-reka). The exclusive collaboration with Cyanogen was the reason the OnePlusOne smartphone was banned this week in India. The Yureka costs $142, and has the Cyanogen modified version of Android KitKat. It is the first 64 bit device supported by Cyanogen, although the benefits of that support won’t come until the Cyanogen version of Android Lollipop arrives.

CNET reports Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel was angry and upset by information leaked to the public as part of emails stolen from Sony Pictures Entertainment. In a memo to employees that he later posted on Twitter Spiegel wrote, “I felt like I was going to cry all morning, so I went on a walk and thought through a couple things.” He also wrote: “We keep secrets because we get to do our work free from judgement — until we’re ready to share it. We keep secrets because keeping secrets gives you space to change your mind until you’re really sure you’re right.”

Finally some good news if you’re an Uber executive. TechCrunch reports that Rocket Internet’s Easy Taxi app is no longer coming to India. Easy Taxi will also scale down operations in Hong Kong and Indonesia in order to focus on other markets. Stiff competition and wads of cash raised by Uber and SoftBank-backed Grab Taxi may have contributed to the move. Easy Taxi covers 160 cities in 40 countries with a focus on emerging markets.

Hey Windows Phone users, The Verge reports Microsoft has started rolling out the Lumia Denim updates to its Lumia devices. Among the changes are a new Lumia Camera update that is faster and supports 4K-quality videos. The updates are not coming to all phones in all countries at once. A wider rollout of Lumia Denim to all Lumia smartphones running Windows Phone 8.1 is expected to begin in early January. Till then you may want to keep an eye on the Microsoft support site.

News From You

dmmacs sends us word that Amazon has launched Prime Now, a one-hour delivery option for Amazon Prime members in select areas of Manhattan. Tech Crunch reports that the service will cover tens of thousands of “essential products” like batteries, books and paper towels. The service is accessible via a dedicated Prime Now app for iOS and Android and delivers between 6 a.m. and midnight, seven days a week. One-hour delivery costs $7.99 but two-hour delivery is free for Prime subscribers. The service should roll out to additional cities in 2015.

AllanAV posted the TorrentFreak article that researchers at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands released the first version of their anonymous and decentralized BitTorrent network called Tribler. The service searches for torrents through peers rather than a centralized service and deals with spam by raising trackers with more likes from users. Tribler also includes a built-in Tor-like network which preserves anonymity. Please keep in mind that while many people use torrents for questionable purposes, anonymity and the Bittorrent protocol are not and in my opinion should not be illegal and do not imply criminal activity.

starfuryzeta sent us the amazing story of a man named Les Baugh who now has two bionic arms that he can control with his mind. Engadget reports that Les lost both of his arms at the shoulder level forty years ago. But thanks to a DARPA funded prosthetics project at Johns Hopkins, Les Baugh can now move cups from one shelf to another just by thinking. First he underwent a procedure called muscle reinnervation which reassigned nerves that used to control his arms and hands. The team recorded the patterns his brain makes for each muscle and then they had him control virtual arms to train his brain. Then they designed a custom socket for his torso for the prosthetics and attached the Modular Prosthetic Limbs. Even more amazing, Baugh was able to control a combination of motions across both arms at the same time. What would he like to be able to do with these once he can use them all the time? [[PLAY BITE]] So let’s all raise a glass to RoboLes to celebrate the fact that he can raise one right back at us.

Discussion Links: Australia and Sony

http://www.zdnet.com/article/data-retention-may-have-helped-police-in-sydney-siege-abbott/

http://www.zdnet.com/article/asio-afp-quiet-on-metadata-definition/

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-06/security-laws-abbott-browsing-history-not-collected/5652364

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/sony-has-no-further-release-plans-for-the-interview-1201382167/

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/yonhap-news-agency/141218/royce-n-korea-behind-cyber-attack-sony

http://www.wired.com/2014/12/evidence-of-north-korea-hack-is-thin/

Pick of the Day: Tiesta Tea via Sheala in Georgia

Thought I’d give some balance to the caffeine force with a tea recommendation.

Try Tiesta tea.  They have a great selection of a variety of teas all packed nicely is tins. Haven’t found a flavor I didn’t like yet.

DTNS 2388 – They’re Bringing Berry Back

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comJustin Young is on the show to talk about SnapChat’s moves as shown through leaked emails. SnapChat is not just another social app. Is Evan Spiegel the top CEO of the future?

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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:  Justin Robert Young, DTNS Raconteur & co-host of Night Attack and Weird Things podcast

Also this! Night Attack Comedy Album 3: http://nightattack.tv/album/

Headlines

The Next Web reports on BlackBerry’s announcement of the BlackBerry Classic today in New York. The Classic has a 3.5-inch square 720 x 720 screen similar to the Passport but brings back a physical keyboard. It runs OS 10.3.1 and claims 22 hours of battery life. It also brings back the Brick Breaker game. Preorders are undereway at blackberry.com for $450 unlocked in the US and $499 unlocked in Canada. Devices should ship next week.

The Next Web reports Sony unveiled a clip-on display unit that can attach to any eyewear frames. Yep like a clip-on Google Glass. The accessory has Bluetooth, WiFi, a compass, accelerometer and touch sensors. It shows information using a 640×400 OLED microdisplay, however Sony says the field of view will be equivalent to a 16-inch display 2 meters in front of the viewer. Sony will show the device at CES, go into mass production later this year and hope to sell them in 2016.

Gigaom reports that Dish satellite TV subscribers can now access Netflix on all broadband-connected second-generation Hopper set-top boxes. You can launch the app by clicking the blue button on the DISH remote and selecting the Netflix icon, or from the Netflix icon on the Hopper main menu. Netflix has said they have made pay-TV partnerships a priority in 2015.

Business Insider’s sources say Twitter and Foursquare are planning a partnership to improve location in tweets. Twitter’s current location data is limited to a generalized location tagging option. Future improvements could include more specific location tagging (not just Los Angeles, or West Los Angeles but Mastro’s Steakhouse in Beverly Hills, for example). Another potential improvement, surfacing tweets by proximity. The source says geo-based features could roll out as soon as Q1 2015. Twitter and Foursqaure declined to make any comment on any of this.

TechCrunch reports that the One phone from OnePlus is the latest to be banned in India after a New Delhi court upheld a complaint from rival phone company Micromax. One week before the One launched in India, OnePlus learned about Micromax’s exclusive deal with Cyanogen to use the Cyanogen Android operating system on Micromax’s Yu phone (Y U) in India. The One phone uses Cyanogen everywhere outside China. The court will allow OnePlus to sell its remaining stock. One Plus co-founder Cal Pei said the company is working on its own version of Android. Hurry up!

ReCode reports on former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar’s posting on the Vessel website giving more details about what that video service has to offer creators. 70% of the ad revenue is the big number. That’s compared to the 55% creators get from YouTube. There’s also a cut of the $3 a month subscription fee. Vessel will take 60% of the total subscription money and split it up among creators by usage. Creators only have to agree to a 3-day exclusive for videos they put on Vessel, then they can post them wherever else they want. Vessel will be ad supported for both free and paid versions of its service.

The Hollywood Reporter says the US’s top five theater chains have decided not to play Sony’s movie “The Interview” in response to threats from the attackers who took data from Sony Pictures Entertainment’s internal network. Regal Entertainment, AMC Entertainment, Cinemark, Carmike Cinemas and Cineplex Entertainment have all decided against showing the film. Other smaller chains have also decided not to screen the film. Both Sony Pictures and the National Association of Theater Owners left the decision up to the individual theaters. The Verge’s Bryan Bishop suggested Sony should release the Interview for free online. Variety reports an insider says Sony Pictures Entertainment is weighing releasing the film on premium video-on-demand.

Reuters reports that Amazon staffers at German warehouses extended a strike today in a dispute over better pay and working conditions. Labor union Verdi had launched a three day strike in five of Amazon’s German distribution centers on Monday with a sixth center joining on Tuesday. Now workers at four of the centers will continue the strike until Saturday and one warehouse will strike until December 24th. An Amazon spokeswoman said only a minority of staff had joined the strike and that the company had not seen any delays so far.

Ars Technica reports unknown attackers have used a spearphishing campaign to compromise systems at ICANN the organization that maintains things like the Domain Name System. The attackers got to employee and business contanct info as well as admin access to all files stored in its centralized zone data system used by registries to manage the allocation of TLDs. ICANN recommended account holders of that system immediately change their accounts passwords.

News From You

Johnsie776 pointed out the Ars Technica story that an analysis by the Sunlight Foundation claims that an organization called American Commitment was responsible for 56.5% of the comments in the second round of feedback to the FCC regarding its Open Internet guidelines. The Sunlight Foundation describes American Commitment as “a 501(c)(4) social welfare group founded in 2011. American Commitment said it delivered 808,363 comments “opposing any regulation of the Internet.” About 88% of all responses int he second round were form letters compared to 60% in the first round.

anotherjmartin pointed out the CNET story that Ting Mobile plans to buy Blue Ridge Internet Works in Charlotesville, VA and its 35 miles of fiber network. Ting intends to build out the network to the entire college town and offer gigabit Internet service for less than $100 a month. Ting CEO Eliot Noss said Google Fiber helped confirm the belief that this was a good business opportunity.

 

Discussion Links: Snapchat Insight

http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/16/snapchat-emails-not-so-ephemeral/

http://www.businessinsider.com/snapchat-ceo-evan-spiegels-email-memo-2014-12

http://www.epiphanyeyewear.com/?technology#

http://vergencelabs.com/yougen.html

https://scan.me/features

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitch_Lasky

Pick of the Day: Android Wear via Marlon, “The Guy From Trinidad”

Hi Marlon “TheGuyFromTrinidad” here, my pick of the day is Android Wear. Why you ask? Because it just got a major update to 5.0 , which has added features like the ability to bring a card back you dismissed, its easier to block app notifications directly from the watch, easy access to a sunlight mode (boost brightness) and a theatre mode (turn off the display and mute vibrations) and the long awaited watchface api. One of the best implementations of the api I have seen is former pick of the day, the live wallpaper app Muzei that mirrors the wallpaper on your phone straight to your watch.
The update also brings the feature that when you do image searches the images will appear right on your watch so you don’t have to pull out your phone.

https://plus.google.com/+MarlonThompson/posts/ibBq2YpV5sq

So if your in the Android ecosystem and your not waiting on that other smartwatch to come out maybe check out an Android wear watch as many of them are on sale right now and you have six to choose from.

http://www.androidcentral.com/android-wears-massive-update-official-watch-face-api-new-display-modes-app-features-and-more 

DTNS 2387 – Don’t Call It a Zeitgeist

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comPatrick Beja is with us today to look at the search engines top trending searches for 2014. What do they tell us about humanity? Or France?

MP3

Using a Screen Reader? click here

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

Headlines

The Verge reports Apple has won against a class-action lawsuit seeking damages of more than $350 million for preventing non-iTunes protected music from playing on iPods. A jury decided Apple’s updates to iTunes 7.0 were a “genuine product improvement” and did not violate antitrust laws. An appeal is planned.

Bloomberg reports Apple halted online sales of its products in Russia today due to fluctuations in the value of the ruble. An Apple spokesman said the company is currently reviewing pricing in the country. Apple raised the price of the iPhone 6 by 25% last month. The company operates no Apple retail locations in Russia.

The patent wars are winding down. PC Mag reports Google and Verizon are teaming up to fight patent trolls. The two companies signed a cross-license agreement on a broad range of products and technologies. Verizon general counsel Randal Milch wrote in a blog post that he hopes to strike similar deals with more companies. Google’s head of patent transactions, Kirk Dailey said his company welcomes discussions with companies who might be interested in a similar arrangement.

Reuters reports a class-action lawsuit has been filed against Sony Pictures Entertainment for failing to protect employee data. Two former employees seek compensation for damages as well as credit monitoring services, identity theft insurance and other assistance for themselves and any former or current U.S. employees whose data was similarly compromised. Sony Pictures Entertainment has offered identity-theft protection and credit monitoring to its approximately 6,500 employees.

Meanwhile The Next Web reports an email was sent to journalists with links to more data claiming to be taken from Sony Pictures Entertainment along with a threatening letter. The data purports to target Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton. The threat targets showings of the movie “The Interview.”

OK. Let’s lighten the mood. Perhaps the Crema filter on Instagram will do just that. The Verge reports Instagram added its first new photo filters since December 2012. The new filters are called Slumber, Crema, Ludwig, Perpetua, and Aden. Instagram also added a new perspective tool, real-time comments and the ability to upload slow-motion video. The updates will come to iOS and Android today.

Patrick, it’s time for a digital pay, triple play. TechCrunch reports Apple told the New York Times that Apple Pay now supports cards from providers of 90% of credit card purchases in the US. ReCode says sources say Samsung is talking to LoopPay to partner on a payment system of its own for devices in 2015. LoopPay mimics a card swipe. And TechCrunch says messaging app Line has begun rolling out its payment feature called Line Pay to all users except those in South Korea or China.

Reuters reports an Indian Court has allowed Xiaomi to resume sales of its devices until a hearing on Jan.8. Ericsson is suing Xiaomi in India for patent infringement. Xiaomi had to agree to deposit 100 rupees for every device sold in advance of the hearing.

Author Neal Stephenson, who wrote the book Snow Crash which includes a world filled with virtual reality and augmented reality has joined secretive startup Magic Leap which is rumored to be working on really amazing virtual reality and augmented reality. Stephenson wrote in a blog post that Magic Leap aims to, “produce a synthesized light field that falls upon the retina in the same way as light reflected from real objects in your environment.” Stephenson’s title witll be Chief Futurist. He did not mention his previous effort, Clang from Subutai Corporation, which aimed to make a realistic sword-fighting game mechanism.

 

 

 

 

News From You

F1Ben submitted the Wall Street Journal article that NBC is launching a live stream of its broadcast network available today online and on mobile early next year. Viewers will need to verify they pay for a cable subscription in order to access the content.

And tehSMOOF submitted the Verge article that T-Mobile USA will let customers save unused data for later. The program is called Data Stash. You must be a Simple Choice customer who has purchased additional 4G LTE data AND uou must buy at least 3GB of data a month on a phone or 1 GB a month on tablets. Starting in January qualifying customers will get 10 GB of data free. After that is used up any unused data each month will be stored in a customer’s Data Stash for a year before it expires.

Discussion Links: Year in Review

https://www.google.com/trends/2014/

http://www.google.com/trends/topcharts?hl=en#date=2014&geo=
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-year-in-search-moments-that-defined.html

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/top-10-searches-of-2014-c1417565661893.html

http://www.bing.com/trends/us

Pick of the Day:  Fuel My Route via Benjamin Chamness

Hello Tom and the rest of the DTNS crew,

I have been on a few road trips recently, and I wanted to pass along a site that I have found to be fairly helpful in my travels. The site is fuelmyroute.com (with an app available on Google Play). If you give FuelMyRoute your starting location and destination, the site will identify the cheapest gas prices along your route. You can edit the fuel grade, how far off your route it should search for gas stations, and how often it should report gas prices (every 50, 100, 150, etc. miles). It reports the prices on a Google map, with stations color coded to based on if their prices are below or above the average price. You can zoom in on the map to show prices at other stations along your route.

The service does not allow for routes with multiple destinations, and it will only report prices along the default driving route from Google Maps. Even with these limitations, I have found the site to be very helpful in planning out my road trips. I thought I would pass this along to the rest of the DTNS community.

Love the show, and I hope to be a Patreon supporter soon.
Benjamin Chamness

DTNS 2386 – You Can’t Hug Through Skype

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comAmber Mac is on. We’ll talk about why checking email less could make you happier and how humanity shows its good side on social networks in Sydney.

MP3

Using a Screen Reader? click here

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 Mac,  author, entrepreneur, host of 15 Sec Tech

Headlines

GigaOm reports Microsoft began rolling out Skype Translator to selected users today. The feature allows instant translation of voice conversations between English and Spanish speakers as well as translation of text conversations between speakers of around 12 languages. The first version runs on Windows 8.1 and Windows phone. Interested users can sign up to be invited in at skype.com/translator-preview.

Politico rounds up the news around the Sony Hacks from the weekend. Attackers offered to exempt Sony staffers from future leaks by emailing their name and business title. Sony Pictures Entertainment hired attorney David Boies to send a request to news organizations not report on damaging information obtained from the stolen files. The letter said Sony would seek action for damages incurred as a result of any such reporting.

GigaOm reports Spanish newspapers are upset at Google’s decision to close Google news in Spain and remove Spanish publishers from Google News products worldwide. The Spanish Association of Daily Newspaper Publisher noted the closure would have a negative impact on citizens and businesses and called for “the intervention of the Spanish and EU authorities, and of competition authorities to effectively protect the rights of citizens and businesses.” Google News in Spain will close Tuesday Dec. 16.

VentureBeat reports that it is now possible to control your Nest thermostat with the self-title Google App on iOS and Android phones. Not some special other app but the regular old Google App. You can also use voice commands to ask Google to change or set the temperature and the app will bring up Google Now to suggest temperatures.

The BBC reports that torrent tracker search site IsoHunt has cloned The Pirate Bay database and launched a site called The Pirate Bay Search by IsoHunt. Meanwhile Mr. 10100100000 (1312) spoke with TorrentFreak saying the TPB crew was not surprised by the raid and is taking this time offline to discuss the future and purpose of The Pirate Bay. But if they reboot they promise to do it “with a bang.” Also they don’t mind clones as long as they aren’t scams.

Reuters reports BT has entered exclusive talks with Orange and Deutsche Telekom to acquire the EE mobile service. The potential deal would be worth 12.5 billion pounds. Deutsche Telekom would keep a 12% stake in EE and Orange would get more cash but only a 4% stake. The talks are expected to take a couple weeks. I personally am hoping that the resulting service that merges EE with BT will be called BEET.

ReCode reports Xiaomi reported 347.5 million yuan ($56 million) in net profit last year, according to a regulatory filing for an operating margin of just 1.8 percent. As a comparison Samsung reported an operating margin of 18.7 percent last year and Apple 28.7%. But Xiaomi is still ahead of LG which reported 0.5%.

TechCrunch reports on Gartner’s latest Worldwide smartphone sales numbers. Samsung’s tops but declining with 24.4%. Apple nudged up a bit to 12.7%. Huawei, Xiaomi and Lenovo rounded out the top 5 with Xiaomi leaping from 1.5% a year ago to 5.2% now. So let’s see. Two incumbents still big and even growing a little while upstarts chomp at their heels. That describes 2009 when Nokia RIM dominated and Apple, HTC and Samsung were the rising stars.

The Atlantic reports that Astrobotics Technology is offering a chance for earthlings to send their precious keepsakes to the moon. The program is called MoonMail and it is part of a plan to put a privately-owned lunar rover on the moon and win Google’s $20 million LunarX prize. If your keepsake is smaller than a dime it will cost you $460. A quarter? $1,600. More than 2 pounds? More than million bucks. No weapons, liquids or perishable items. Interested? Check out moonmail.co

News From You

starfuryzeta sent us the TechCrunch report that Runtastic has developed software for Oculus Rift VR headsets that lets you do a real 7 minute workout in a virtual environment. You can exercise in a villa by the beach, or on a scenic hillside, all tracked by Runtastic. The software will be on display at CES, so get ready for lots of videos of reporters exercising. AND This means we are now one 7 minute workout closer to the world of Ready Player One.

Dear Uber. You’ve had a tough month. One of your execs maybe threatened a reporter, then you got sued by several cities for maybe misleading the public. So you’re looking for ways to prove that you’re not the company we’re all maybe starting to wonder if you are. So MAYBE, when there’s a hostage crisis in downtown Sydney and people are looking to get out of downtown, don’t tweet “We are all concerned with events in CBD. Fares have increased to encourage more drivers to come online & pick up passengers in the area.” After Mashable and others published a story of price hikes at 4x the normal rate, resulting in rides cost $100 or more, the company reversed course and announced that all rides in the area would be free and offered refunds to those charged the higher amount. Thanks to lagerdalek for flagging this one.

iSting pointed this one out and I believe it caught Amber’s eye as well. Indiegogo is setting up a new site called Indiegogo Life designed to help individuals raise money for things like medical bills, school and other personal causes. This special program does not charge any platform feees. An Indiegogo spokesperson told Engadget that the company has a “stringent verification procedure” for Life campaigns that includes a “dedicated team of experts, automated algorithms and other procedures.”

Discussion Links: Checking Email Less = More Better

http://mashable.com/2014/12/12/email-checking-study/

https://www.academia.edu/9182785/Checking_Email_Less_Frequently_Reduces_Stress

http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/15/these-australian-social-media-reactions-to-the-sydneysiege-are-perfect/?ncid=rss

https://www.facebook.com/FBNewswire/posts/818714328166690

https://twitter.com/search?q=illridewithyou

Pick of the Day:  Elfster via Norm in Austin, TX

Hey Tom & Jennie,

I feel like I’m overloading your inboxes but I’m sure I’ll go dormant for a few months and leave you guys alone after this

Anyway, I am doing a gift exchange with my California inlaws and we are using the Elfster.com web site to coordinate that. People sign up, set up a wish list and the random drawing assigns folks to each other. The admin can make it so certain people don’t get each other (like married members of the family don’t get each other for example) so it’s pretty convenient. We’ve been using it for a few years and it’s working fine though the web site leaves a bit to be desired but it gets the job done.

Take care, Norm (from ATX/BCS)

DTNS 2385 – Quit Putin the Packets There

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comDarren Kitchen is on the show and we’ll talk about Russia pulling out their engineers from Russia. It’s probably not what you think. Plus Len Peralta is here to illustrate the show.

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Show Notes

Today’s guests:  Darren Kitchen of hak5.org and Len Peralta, artist and author

Headlines

The BBC reports Facebook is considering adding something similar to the oft-requested dislike button. In a Q&A session at Facebook headquarters, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company wants to find “the right way to make it so that people can easily express a broader range of emotions.” Zuck talked about people sharing sad moments or wanting to say ‘That thing isn’t good for the world.’ For example a post that links to a report on child slavery might inspire support for raising awareness, but clicking ‘Like’ might not seem quite right.

Chinese Internet company Baidu will hold a press conference next week to announce an investment in “a prominent US based start-up,” and TechCrunch says its Uber. Bloomberg reports the investment could be as much as $600 million. The partnership helps Baidu compete in China’s taxi space, and gives Uber access to Baidu’s wealth of mobile data as well as their experience dealing with Chinese government regulations. Both TenCent and Alibab have significant investments in popular taxi apps Didi Dache and rival Kuaidi Dache.

The Next Web reports that YouTube is testing a new feature that allows users to create GIFs from YouTube Videos. Right now users can test the feature on the PBS Idea Channel page. Click the share button, drag a trim selector to the part of the video and boom 5 second GIF. You can even add text. No word on when this feature will go site wide but I’m sure glad there’s an ENTIRE year of Daily Tech News Show video out there.

Tech Crunch reports that Google has released its list of the year’s most popular entertainment as seen in the Google Play store. The most downloaded apps included language-learning app Duolingo and health app MyFitnessPal. The most downloaded game of 2014 was Candy Crush Saga. Movie of the year? Frozen TV show: The Walking Dead. Album of the year? Frozen. Fastest growing genre: Soundtracks (thank you Frozen and Guardians of the Galaxy).

Ars Technica reports Microsoft says NPD’s data for November shows the Xbox One outsold the PS4 in the US and UK. Leaked numbers indicate Microsoft may have sold as many as 1.2 million Xbox Ones with Sony selling 2/3 as many PS4s. That’s not awful news for either company as Microsoft slashed prices in November with games bundled in. Sony just added bundles this week. And good news for Nintendo too, which announced Wii U sales were up 10% and at the end of November, the console had its best hardware sales week since launch.

Ars Technica reports Google has confirmed it is shutting down its engineering operations in Russia and offer the more than 50 engineers a chance to transfer elsewhere in the company. Sales and marketing will continue on in Russia. Google’s Aaron Stein told Ars: “We are deeply committed to our Russian users and customers, and we have a dedicated team in Russia working to support them.” A Bloomberg source says Google intends to increase investment in Russia next year.

The Verge reports Sony has launched another crowdfunded experimental project. The Qrio Smart Lock claims to be the smallest of its kind and can be securely installed without tools. It allows users to open doors with a smartphone and share encrypted keys using messaging apps like Line and Facebook. Qrio is expected to retail in Japan for around ¥15,000 ($126).

News From You

djsekani sent us the Engadget report that New York Judge Denise Cote ruled that it is NOT illegal to tell people about software that can strip DRM off e-books, as long as there is no intent to distribute the DRM-free versions. Back in 2013, Abbey House Media, a company that sold e-books for Penguin and Simon and Schuster shut down its digital store. Without the store, customers couldn’t transfer their purchases to new devices. So Abbey House told customers that Calibre could be used to strip DRM from ebooks. Guess who didn’t like that? The book publishers sued saying Abbey House was contributing to copyright infringement and inducing people to break the law, but the judge disagreed. Guess who is almost certain to appeal?

TheLazyOne pointed out TechCrunch’s report on Seagate’s Shingled Magnetic Recording drives that can store 8 TB of data for about 3 cents a gigabyte by cramming more tracks on a platter. Yeah platter. They’re not solid state and they’re not even fast at 5,900 RPM and an average read/write speed of 150MB/sec. However they are cheap. Seagate will ship the drives in January for $260 for an 8 terabyte version.

And Johnsie776 tipped us off to the TorrentFreak article claiming the MPAA and its major studios members have been brainstorming ways to legally block copyright-infringing websites without getting new laws passed. The most promising would be using Rule 19 of Federal Rules of Cicil procedure. If a judge found a foreign site guilty of infringement, Rule 19 would then be used to join an ISP in the lawsuit thus allowing the blocking without finding the ISP guilty of any wrongdoing. Another of the many approaches would note that ISPs have publicly claimed they are not telecommunications services” or mere conduits of information and therefore they should not be protected by the DMCA’s safe harbor provisions.

 

Discussion Links: Google ex Russia

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/12/in-wake-of-restrictive-data-law-in-russia-google-pulls-its-engineers/

http://fortune.com/2014/12/11/google-russia-engineering/

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-12/google-said-to-transfer-engineering-operations-out-of-russia.html

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/04/russian-facebook-founder-flees-country-after-being-forced-out-as-ceo/

http://rusemb.org.uk/policycontact/52

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2011/09/russia-china-tajikistan-propose-un-code-of-conduct-for-the-net/

http://www.mid.ru/bdomp/nsosndoc.nsf/1e5f0de28fe77fdcc32575d900298676/2deaa9ee15ddd24bc32575d9002c442b%21OpenDocument

https://www.google.com/search?q=gogole+moves+engineers+from+norway&oq=gogole+moves+engineers+from+norway&aqs=chrome..69i57.4379j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=119&ie=UTF-8#q=google+moves+engineers+from+norway&start=10
http://www.itpro.co.uk/609539/google-cuts-jobs-and-consolidates-engineering

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/changes-to-engineering.html

Pick of the Day:   Sprint Reader via Franz

Franz has this one: Hi Tom,

a few weeks back you mentioned an ever increasing read list in your Pocket app. Well, maybe my pick can help here:
It is a Chrome extention called “Sprint Reader”, and it is an implementation of a fast-reading technique called RSVP – rapid serial visual presentation. In a nutshell, it flashes words in your view in rapid succession without you having to move your eyes. This allows for reading speeds of 600 words per minute and beyond. (Typical reading speeds is about 150-200, 300 for really fast readers). The way this works is by eliminating the limiting factor, which is movement of the eyes and re-focussing on the text.
Developer Anthony Nosek just updated Sprint Reader to 2.1 today*, so I thought I’d mention it. The code is also openly available on GitHub.
I got hooked on the idea of RSVP after I discovered Spritz ( spritzinc.com ) back in march, which sadly is a proprietary API, and was no product yet. Since then, I had a look on every single RSVP app I could find and found Sprint Reader to not only be free, but the best of the bunch.

I hope this helps you and your listeners to better cope with an ever increasing amount of interesting reads on the web.
Greetings to Jennie and guest, Thanks for the show, and keep it going strong.
Franz Reischl from Austria
(Patron of the show)

Link:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sprint-reader-speed-readi/kejhpkmainjkpiablnfdppneidnkhdif?hl=en

GitHub:

https://github.com/anthonynosek/sprint-reader-chrome

* Disclaimer: The update includes a fix from myself. To be exact, my first ever contribution to an open-source project. So I might be a bit biased when I say it’s the best, but I use it for way longer than that now.

DTNS 2384a – No News is Spanish News

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comJustin Young is on the show and we’ll talk about Google’s decision to shut down Google News in Spain, rather than pay Spanish publishers to list news content.

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If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here or giving 5 cents 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:  Justin Robert Young, DTNS contributor and co-host of Night Attack and Weird Things 

Headlines

Engadget reports Microsoft has made the MSN suite of apps available for iOS and Android in addition to Windows Phone. The News, Sports, Health and Fitness, food and Drink and Money apps are available now. MSN Weather is out on Android and coming to iOS in a few weeks. That news comes along with Microsoft’s acquisition of multiplatform mobile test environment maker HockeyApp, similar to Apple-owned TestFlight on iOS.

TechCrunch reports Ford’s new Sync 3 is faster, sleeker, more intuitive and NOT powered by Microsoft anymore. Sync 3 switches to Blackberry-owned QNX OS running on TI hardware. And yes that means your old Ford will not get Sync 3. Ford worked with select app developers for the Sync 3 launch including Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, NPR One, SiriusXM Radio and iHeartRadio. The system rolls out to new vehicles next year.

So Microsoft wins some and loses some and then takes your BitCoins. TechCrunch reports the folks at Coindesk noticed that you can now use bitcoins to buy content on Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox. Microsoft confirmed that it is working with Bitpay. However you can only use Bitcoins for MS Wallet or gift cards in the US. Direct payments are not supported.

CNET reports Head of Google News Richard Gingras announced today in a blog post that Google News will shut down in Spain December 16th and Spanish publishers will be removed from Google News worldwide. An amendment to Spain’s copyright law goes into effect January 1st that requires any news aggregator to pay an unspecified license fee to any publisher for listing their content. Google does not run ads on Google News and claims they cannot afford to keep the site going under the new law.

TechCrunch reports Xiaomi confirmed it has stopped selling its phones in India after an injunction from a New Delhi High Court. Ericsson brought a patent suit against Xiaomi for “unfair” usage of a range of wireless technology patents. Xiaomi began selling the Mi3, Redmi and Redmi Note devices in India in July. Ericsson claims it spent three years trying to communicate about the issue. Xiaomi says it is open to resolving the issue amicably.

The Next Web reports that YouTube’s Android app now allows users in India, Indonesia and the Philippines to save videos to their devices to watch offline. The feature is available for select content like trailers, movies and music videos so users can watch buffer-free video in areas without data connections. Users can also choose the quality of the videos they’re downloading and videos can be played back from the app’s Offline section for up to 48 hours.

Peter Wells let us know about a new piracy development in Australia. The Sydney Morning Herald reports the government will enable rights holders to apply for a court order requiring ISPs to block access to overseas websites alleged to provide access to pirated content. Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull is part of the Coalition government, who’s policy is not to support filters. So why the change of heart? Because it’s not a filter! Turnbull said “This is not, repeat, not an internet filter” and called the idea that blocking websites amounts to a filter, “nonesense” and “complete BS.” He did NOT say “You call that a filter? Now THIS is a filter.”

ReCode reports its sources say Sony Pictures Entertainment is flooding file sharing sites with fake or corrupted versions of torrents containing stolen information from the company. One of the sources says SPE is using Amazon Web Services to power the attack. Amazon told Recode such activity is not happening on AWS.

 

 

News From You

Hurmoth sent in the report that Verizon Chief Financial Officer Francis Shammo told a UBS investor conference yesterday that Title II regulation of broadband would not influence how Verizon invests in its networks. Just to be clear, Verizon is still against Title II regulation of broadband, but Shammo said “we were born out of a highly regulated company, so we know how this operates.” Verizon sued and won to overturn the FCC’s previous open Internet guidelines which led to the current debate. Would that happen again? Sounds like it’s AT&T’s turn at the plate. Shammo quoted AT&T Chairman & CEO Randall Stephenson saying, “I think it’s going to be a very litigious environment.”

starfuryzeta submitted the Wired article that hackers have figured out a way around the Keurig coffee machine’s DRM on coffee pods. The hack involves snipping a section of the lid from a valid Keurig “K-Cup” and then taping that strip to the top of a non-Keurig pod. Alternatively you can tape the strip to the Keurig machine itself, permanently fooling it.

MrAnthropology sent us a Des Moines register report that beginning next year, citizens of Iowa will be able to use a mobile app as their official driver’s license. The ID will be protfected by a PIN and be accepted by law enforcement and airports in Iowa. Iowa is already one of more than 30 states that allow motorists to show electronic proof of insurance during a traffic stop.

Discussion Links: Adios Google News en Espańa

http://searchengineland.com/responding-strict-new-copyright-law-google-shutter-news-site-spain-210648

http://googlepolicyeurope.blogspot.com/2014/12/an-update-on-google-news-in-spain.html

http://searchengineland.com/spain-follows-germany-passing-google-tax-guide-copyright-protection-207103

http://searchengineland.com/german-publishers-google-want-snippets-back-206520

http://searchengineland.com/sweden-latest-consider-google-link-tax-207706

http://searchengineland.com/avoid-liability-google-reduces-news-content-germany-headlines-204811

http://www.stefan-niggemeier.de/blog/19058/leistungsschutzrecht-wirkt-mehrere-suchmaschinen-zeigen-verlagsseiten-nicht-mehr-an/

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-30426496

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/12/the-predictable-result-of-spains-google-tax-no-more-google-news/

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/12/google-news-shuts-shop-spain-thanks-ancillary-copyright-law

Pick of the Day:   Pushbullet via Geoff in Maryland

Here’s my pick of the day, Pushbullet. It is a very simple yet powerful app that basically lets you send information from one device to another very easily. You can use it to send notes, links, or even files. I use it all the time to send links from my computer to my phone (map directions, recipes, etc.)

It also has the ability on Android (not sure about iOS) to mirror notifications which I use on my desktop to see what the notifications are on my phone. Handy because for instance I can see who’s calling on my laptop and know if I need to run to pick up my phone in the bedroom.

Finally, I don’t use this feature but it integrates with IFTT or Tasker for even more uses.

All in all, it’s an app I use all the time and don’t know how I managed without it. It’s available for Android and iOS, as well as Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Opera. There’s a beta app for Windows and an app for OSX is coming soon. The developer is great and is constantly putting out new features and updates as needed.

Geoff in MD

DTNS 2383 – No One Expects the Dragon Age Inquisition!

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comEric Franklin joins us to talk about why you need to put your phone out of sight and whether video game makers should stop publishing broken games.

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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

DTNS 2382 – Can You Spare a Plaintiff?

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comPatrick Beja is on to look at the top YouTube videos of the year and discuss why rivals like Vessel are trying to hire the YouTube Creators away. Shouldn’t they be going after the dog spiders?

MP3

Using a Screen Reader? click here

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: Patrick Beja, DTNS contributor and independent podcaster 

Headlines

ReCode reports YouTube has updated its Apple TV app after a long period without any change. The app now looks more like the versions available on other platforms like Xbox. While that means ads will now play that also means videos like music videos will be allowed on Apple TV. Apple also added apps from Conde Nast, Fusion, Daily Motion and a $10 a month UFC.TV Fight Pass.

The Verge reports password manager Dashlane has added a function to change all your passwords at once. It will only work with 75 major websites at launch, but it will work with two factor authentication. Dashlane is available for Mac and Windows. It is free on one device or $40 a year to sync between multiple devices.

The Verge reports Amazon announced 4K Ultra HD streaming is now available in the US, for customers with the Amazon instant video app on compatible TVs. Videos are encoded with h.265 meaning the TV has to have an HEVC decoding chip inside. Offerings are limited but include some of Amazon’s own shows like Transparent as well as non-Amazon shows like BBC America’s Orphan Black (4K clone club!), as well as a selection of movies from Sony Pictures. The purchase price for an Ultra HD movie it will start at $19.99

9 to 5 mac obtained  internal hiring documents that suggest Apple is recruiting retail employees with a fashion or luxury background. The article also describes possible changes to the Apple Store footprint to accommodate all the different Apple Watch options. It also describes security enhancements for that 18 Karat Rose Gold option– rumored to cost thousands of dollars.

If you tried to visit the Pirate Bay today you may have noticed it’s offline. The Next Web reports Swedish Police have raided a server room in greater Stockholm containing The Pirate Bay’s servers. Torrent Freak says Sweden’s police national coordinator for IP enforcement said the raid is being done, “in connection with violations of copyright law.” The site reappeared a few hours after the raid at a new domain name.

GigaOm reports the latest locations fighting Uber. Both Thailand and Spain banned Uber Tuesday. The city of Rio de Janeiro’s transport department filed a police complaint against Uber AND the City of Portland is suing the company for operating without permission there.

Reuters reports Joe Demarest, assistant director with the US FBI’s cyber division spoke on the Sony Pictures Entertainment attacks and said, “There is no attribution to North Korea at this point.” Demarest also said that there has been no confirmation of government involvement to date. Demarest was speaking on a panel at a cybersecurity conference sponsored by Bloomberg Government. FBI representatives plan to meet with Sony employees Wednesday to train them in cybersecurity practices.

The Next Web passes along Intel’s announcement that it is launching its own Internet of things platform. The Intel IoT platform and reference design is meant to help companies deploy products faster. It also promises to improve security. Intel is partnering with Accenture, SAP, Dell, Wipro and others on the platform.

The Guardian reports Blackphone is launching an app store in January for apps that help protect privacy and security. While Blackphones run Android, they do not have access to the Google Play store. Blackphone is also launching new software called “Spaces” which splits work and private life into two containers on the phone. The large bulk of sales of Blackphone are expected to be enterprise users.

Fortune reports a leaked memo says HBO will use technology from MLB Advanced to run its standalone streaming service in the US. HBO had been building its streaming service in house. The memo also indicates HBO plans to launch the service in April along with the season premiere of Game of Thrones.

Engadget reports the FIDO alliance has published its 1.0 draft standards for password-free authentication, both Universal Authentication Framework (UAF) and Universal 2nd Factor (U2F). The alliance, made up of of Google, Microsoft, Paypal and others relies on alternatives to passwords like fingerprint readers and USB dongles. The identity standards do not yet support Bluetooth- or NFC-based authentication thought they hope to add those as extensions to the standard. Apple’s TouchID also doesn’t work with FIDO except for one implementation by Nok Nok Labs.

News From You

metalfreak and starfuryzeta submitted the Ars Technica article about a trojan for Linux that is the missing piece of an Advance persistent threat disclosed in August called Turla. Researchers detected the malware. It cannot be detected using the common netstat command. It is able to run arbitrary commands even without elevated system privileges. Administrators can check for it by watching outgoing traffic to command and control connections and detecting strings.

habichuelacondulce sent us the Ars Technica report that CBS and Dish reached an agreement this weekend to end all pending litigation between the two companies. The deal follows a 12-hour blackout of CBS on Dish including (gasp) NFL games. The deal will also limit some of the Dish Hopper DVR’s ad-skipping ability. During a seven-day window following the airing of a CBS show, AutoHop will be disabled.

starfuryzeta passed along the San Jose Mercury News article that the Apple iPod trial will continue despite having no plaintiff. On Monday Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers rejected the lone plaintiff representing the class of customers who had their rights harmed by what lawyers allege was an illegal monopoly to limit iPod downloads to the iTunes store. Lawyers for the Class have until today to present another person who can represent the 8 million iPod owners. “We don’t anticipate any problems,” said plaintiff’s lawyer Bonny Sweeney.

Discussion Links: YouTube 2014

http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2014/12/youtube-rewind-2014.html

http://adage.com/article/media/jason-kilar-s-vessel-plans-youtube/295857/

http://www.wsj.com/articles/youtube-offering-its-stars-bonuses-1417994309

http://www.engadget.com/2014/12/08/youtube-star-bonuses-vessel/

http://variety.com/2014/digital/news/youtube-reopens-checkbook-for-original-content-1201308922/

http://www.theverge.com/2014/12/3/7326375/zoella-girl-online-best-selling-debut-novel-of-all-time

Pick of the Day:   Untappd via Norm Fazekas

Hey Tom & Jennie,
hope all is well and I wish you both a wonderful holiday season. I’m glad things are working well for you guys and look forward to another year of DTNS.

I know most of your apps are technologically based but I have a penchant for drinking beer and had a great app to share. I have used the Untappd app the past couple of years to find, track, rate brews and see what my friends are drinking. Plus it has a gamification element to earn badges for types of beers and/or places to drink. The Untappd folks keep making updates and adding new badges to keep things interesting and find it an integral tool to finding my next cold one. Obviously this isn’t for everyone but I love seeing what my friends recommend and trying to stay ahead of said friends in tallying badges.

Wednesday’s guest: Eric Franklin of cnet.com