DTNS 2241 – It Takes Drones to Tango

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comDarren Kitchen is with us to talk Google’s Project Tango Tablet and the state of Drones in the world. They can deliver pizza in India! Also Len Peralta will illustrate the show!

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Show Notes
Today’s guests: Darren Kitchen of hak5.org and Len Peralta of the arts

Headlines

Only one tablet to tango: The Next Web passes along info from the paywalled WSJ report that Google is working on a tablet that incorporates the 3D sensors from Project Tango. The 7-inch tablet has two back cameras along with infrared sensors. The last time we heard about Project Tango was in February when Google revealed a smartphone with the sensors could purportedly map surroundings in 3D. Google is allegedly prepping 4,000 Tango Tablets ahead of Google I/O which kicks off June 25.

Yeah, but can it cook dinner? The Wall Street Journal also reports, via Marketwatch, that Samsung plans to unveil a smartwatch that works as a stand-alone phone within the next few months. It will also do normal smart watch-y things like take photos, send email and measure your heart rate.

All you had to do was ask: Engadget reports Microsoft general counsel and executive VP Brad Smith recently revealed that the software giant successfully challenged an FBI National Security Letter that tried to seek basic information from one of its enterprise customers. The letter would have prevented Microsoft from telling the customer about the request. By the way, the FBI did receive the information they sought by lawfully requesting it from the customer in question directly.

Hack THIS: Engadget reports that BBM Protected was shown at the Blackberry Experience event in Washington. The new service creates a random encryption key for each message sent on BBM, making data thieves jobs quite a bit tougher. BBM Protected will be available in an enterprise suite available for corporate-controlled Blackberrys starting in June. The feature will extend to consumer phones running BlackBerry Balance in the autumn and then on to Android and iOS users afterwards in early winter at the latest.

Censored on Twitter: The Verge reports Twitter is complying with a Pakistani government request to block blasphemous or unethical content. The blocked material includes illustrations of the Prophet Muhammad, tweets from anti-Islam bloggers, and photographs of burning Qurans. Twitter has previously blocked neo-Nazi content in Germany and accounts deemed unlawful by the Turkish government.

Wait, don’t touch THAT: PC Mag reports on a thermal imaging system developed by Metaio for use in Augmented Reality headsets. The Thermal Touch prototype attaches infrared and standard cameras to a tablet, which then tracks the heat signature left behind when you touch a surface. The tech can turn any surface into a touch screen letting users to “click” on merchandise on a magazine page, play a virtual game on an empty table, and more. The tech will be on display in Santa Clara, California at Augmented World Expo May 27-29.

News From You

dwsoulsby submitted the Engadget article about SpaceX owner Elon Musk posting a series of tweets implying United Launch Alliance was awarded an exclusive Air Force deal for 36 rocket launches because Roger Correll, the official in charge of the deal, was promised a job. Correll recently took a position with one of ULA’s suppliers, Aerojet Rocketdyne. Musk says SpaceX turned Correll down for a job. SpaceX is suing the Air Force over the contract. 

terapinrex pointed out The Next Web’s article about Lifelock pulling its Wallet app from Google, Amazon and Apple app stores. Lifelock CEO and Chairman Todd Davis wrote that certain aspects of the app may not be fully compliant with payment card industry standards. The next time users open the app their information will be deleted. Switching the phone to airplane mode before openign the app will give a user the chance back up important information before it gets deleted. 

Discussion Section Links: 

http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/23/google-said-to-be-working-on-a-tablet-with-project-tango-3d-vision-powers/

http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/20/google-launches-project-tango/
https://www.google.com/atap/projecttango/

http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/22/researchers-plug-googles-project-tango-into-a-drone-to-let-it-fly-itself-around-a-room/

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/congress-thinks-the-faa-is-not-well-positioned-to-regulate-drones

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-27537120

http://austin.twcnews.com/content/news/299372/wimberley-man-sues-faa-over-drone-policy

http://www.suasnews.com/2014/05/29305/washington-archdiocese-takes-to-the-heavens-with-a-drone/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeanders/2014/05/19/amazons-drone-team-is-hiring-look-at-these-nifty-job-ads/

Pick of the day:   

Monday is a headlines show.  Tuesday’s guest is: Shannon Morse of hak5.org