DTNS 2453 – There Is No Zone 4

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comJustin Robert Young joins the show to talk about a Pew Research report that says developing countries don’t see the Internet improving morality. But it’s great for education and news.

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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: Justin Robert Young, DTNS contributor and co-host of Night Attack, Weird Things and JuRY talks and JuRYmore podcasts

Headlines: 

The Next Web reports TAG Heuer, Intel and Google announced a partnership at the Baselworld watch fair. TAG will launch an Android Wear watch with Intel hardware by the end of the year. Intel previously has partnered with Fossil on smart watches and powered a smart bracelet called Mica.

Starting on the Apple Watch’s preorder date of April 10th, customers will have up to 15 minutes to check out and try on the Watch at an Apple Store. 9 to 5 Mac talked to”sources briefed on the upcoming changes” who say that each store will set up 10 or more “try-on” stations, and four different zones– In Zone One, employees will help customers try on the entry level sport edition; Zone Two is for sales, Zone Three is for questions, and Zone Four is– well, if you have to ask, you can’t afford it. (Hint: it’s gold). Apple is also considering ‘try-on’ appointments if things get too busy.

Engadget reports Opera announced it has acquired VPN company SurfEasy. Senior Vice President of Products Nitin Bhandari says his team has “concrete plans” to integrate personal privacy products from SurfEasy into the Opera browsers.

Got range anxiety? The Verge reports Tesla will release a software update with a Range Assurance app, that runs in the background, communicating with Tesla’s network of chargers. The app will warn Model S drivers if they risk having less energy in their batteries than it will take to get to the nearest charger. Telsa is also introducing a Trip Planner that will take into account charger locations on long-distance trips. The update will be released within two weeks.

Reuters reports in an interview with Bloomberg TV Virgin Group’s founder Richard Branson said “We have teams of people working on electric cars. So you never know. You may find Virgin competing with the Tesla in the car business as we do in the space business.” Virgin Group spokesman Nick Fox told Reuters. “We are working with the Virgin Formula E team to develop the plan for next season’s cars. Our aim is to build a leading engine and car for next season. Maybe ultimately that could be used in the broader car market in the future”.

TechCrunch reports Android Auto is live for devices running Android 5.0 Lollipop or later. Of course tat doesn’t do you much good unless you have a compatible car stereo system. That means the US and UK and a model from Pioneer. Android Auto apps are now available on Google Play store including Pandora, Spotify, Soundcloud and more.

CNET reports that US revenue generated from streaming music like Pandora and Spotify eclipsed sales of CDs last year, according to the Recording Industry Associate of America. Streaming music sales were 1.87 billion in 2014, compared to 1.85 billion in CD sales. CD revenue dropped 12.7 percent while streaming revenue jumped 29 percent. Digital downloads still make up the biggest chunk at $2.58 billion though that fell 8.7%. Total music sales in the US fell 0.5 percent to $6.97 billion last year.

Fortune reports at CeBit Alibaba founder and CEO Jack Ma showed off a facial recognition feature meant to be used with Alipay service. Ma called it “Smile to Pay.” It works by comparing a photo taken at the point of purchase with a stored photo. Smile to Pay will come to China first then other countries.

TechCrunch reports Rethink Robotics, the company responsible for the teachable industrial robotic arm Baxter, has released a smaller lighter version called Sawyer. While Baxter was meant to repeat the same simple task again and again, like sticking things in a box, Sawyer is aimed for tasks that require more agility and flexibility. Baxter and Sawyer can be used together to address 90% of the manufacturing tasks that cannot be automated with existing technologies. Sawyer costs $29,000, weighs 42 lbs, can carry up to 9 lbs, reach up to 1 meter, has a barcode scanner, object recognition and includes force sensing joints to locate parts in a semi structured environment.

The Next Web reports Pebble has pledged $1 million towards the development and support of smartstrap projects for the new Pebble Time watches. Smartstraps plug into special ports to extend functionality to the strap. Pebble highlighted concepts from Seeed Studio with modular function-specific strap pieces and Spark.io which adds cellular connectivity. Developers should tweet @Pebble or email [email protected] with ideas.

News From You:

The_corley sent us this Engadget story reporting the success of a Google ballon delivering an internet connection from Chile to Australia. Part of Google’s Project Loon the balloon was launched from New Zealand and across the Pacific to Chile, 5500 miles away. After testing the ballon’s command functions and airborne LTE network they sent it back across the Pacific to Australia and tested internet connectivity achieving two hours of connectivity in places where it might not occur otherwise. The tests are giving Google a better picture of how the system will scale.

Berke80 submitted the TechDirt story highlighting The IlluMask. Let’s assume you find a light therapy mask covered in LEDs a desirable product. You’d normally have to pay hundreds of dollars for one. The IllumiMask is only $30. How could this have been done? By breaking it. Even though LEDs should last 30-40,000 hours, IllumiMask programs in a restriction that only lets you use the mask 30 times for 15 minutes each time before you have to throw it away and buy another. However as TechDirt explains, a screwdriver, a paperclip and some gentle hands can reset the IllumimAsk’s use count letting you use it for the life of the bulbs.

 

Discussion Section Links:  

http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/19/in-emerging-markets-internet-blamed-for-having-negative-impact-on-morality/?ncid=rss
http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/03/19/internet-seen-as-positive-influence-on-education-but-negative-influence-on-morality-in-emerging-and-developing-nations/

 

Pick of the day:  Gazelle

Tom and Jennie,

I know most people in your audience know about Gazelle as a place to go to sell used electronics, but I recently discovered they are an excellent place to buy them as well. They list their items on their eBay storefront, and list their condition from “poor” to “very good” and give clear explanations of what each category means. Their prices are really competitive and you don’t have fight other people’s bids since its all “buy now”. Their free shipping is also excellent, I recently bought an iPad mini 2 32gb, it arrived at my door within 30 hours of ordering. The only downside is the inventory fluctuates fairly quickly, so if you see a deal you should probably jump on it. They are also my go to recommendation for replacement phones out of contact, thought your audience should know.

Rich from Lovely Cleveland

Messages

Hey, guys. I’m a little behind on shows, but I wanted to suggest Dropbox as another legitimate use of peer-to-peer file sharing. The “LAN Sync” option will sync your files across computers on your network without each peer having to go through Dropbox’s servers. When setting up a new computer, the first thing I do is install Dropbox and enable LAN Sync which significantly reduces the synchronization process. (If doing so on Windows, you have to explicitly give permission for the firewall to allow traffic on that port.)
Best,
Christian

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BOL REUNION!

Just announced: The Buzz Out Loud 10 Year reunion on March 29th at 12:30 pacific /3:30 p eastern and 7:30p GMT! It’s free! Tom, Molly, Veronica, Jason and many other special guests! Tickets for the event at the Hak 5 warehouse are available at http://bit.ly/BOLreunion but if you want to attend online you don’t need even need a ticket. The event will stream live on Alpha Geek Radio and on YouTube with more details forthcoming.

Buzztown’s Back!

PODCAST AWARDS

Also Podcast Awards! Remember yesterday, and the day before, when we told you how you could vote for your favorite podcast in the Podcast Awards? Well guess what, you can vote again today! For example, you could vote for DTNS in the technology category, but you can also support Night Attack in the “Mature” and “Video” categories. Also you can vote for The Instance, Film Sack and our good friends at The Morning Stream and Night Attack. I guess you could also vote for Serial. But only once. Vote once a day at http://www.podcastawards.com/ until March 24th.

Wednesday’s guest: Iyaz Akhtar

S&L Podcast – #210 – Are You the Goblin Emperor?

We bid adieu to Terry Pratchett and commemorate him with one more book pick next month. We cheer for Chuck Wendig being picked for the next Star Wars novel. And we wonder if we are too much like the Goblin Emperor. Are you?

Download direct link here!

QUICK BURNS
    
Paul: Terry Pratchett has passed away    
Sandra: There will be one more DiscWorld novel    
    
Dara: Gollancz plans to publish The Thorn of Emberlain by the end of 2015. They also revealed the cover.    
    
Alpha Young Writers scholarship drive    
    
Dara: HBO wants 10 seasons of Game of Thrones
Mark: George RR Martin is sad but cancels WorldCon Saratoga and ComicCon “(Should I complete and deliver WINDS OF WINTER before these cons roll round, I reserve the right to change my mind).”

Joanna: Lois McMaster Bujold just announced that she has sold a book about Cordelia Vorkosigan to Baen, titled “Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen” and tentatively scheduled for February 2016. 
    
Sky: 20 new books will be released in the new Star Wars universe in a series dubbed “Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, that span multiple publishers and age groups and fills in the gaps between Return of the Jedi and the upcoming The Force Awakens. Including Chuck WendigDetails on the first standalone Star Wars movie including the title “Rogue One” and director and release date for episode VIII: Rian Johnson / May 26, 2017    

Tamahome : Station Eleven a finalist to be nominated for the Faulkner
    
BARE YOUR SWORD

Hey guys, just heard your podcast for the first time and really enjoyed it.

I’m a designer and concept artist that works in film and games and just thought I’d share the fact that I just finished working with Denis (Den-ee) on his upcoming sci fi film The Story of Your Life which will star Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner.

I can’t say anything about the movie i just worked on, but I wanted to voice my support for Denis as the choice to direct the new Bladerunner. People may not be super familiar with him, but if they watch his films, they’ll see that he’s could do a great job with it. He’s got a kind of dark, gritty style and , fingers crossed, could be what this new Bladerunner film needs. I really like the idea of a less “Hollywood” type of director tackling this story.

Anyway, thanks! And if you’d like to see what kind of fantasy and scifi design work I do, please check out my site: www.theartofpeterkonig.com

-Peter

March Madness SF/Fantasy Style
    
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION    

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison    

Next time we’ll kick off a Terry Pratchett book. Watch the goodreads group for the announcement of which one    

ADDENDUMS    
    
Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons at patreon.com/swordandlaser Thank you to all the folks who back our show and if you would like to support the show that way head to patreon.com/swordandlaser    
    
You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com/picks    

DTNS 2452 – The Vue Looks Pretty High From Here

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comIyaz Akhtar is on to talk about the new PlayStation Vue Internet TV service. Should you cancel cable?

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Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.

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A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.

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 guests: Iyaz Akhtar, Senior Associate Editor at CNET

Headlines: 

TechCrunch reports Microsoft’s Executive VP of Operating Systems told the audience at WinHEC in Shenzen, China that Windows 10 will launch this summer in 190 countries and 111 languages. HE also said Windows 10 will be a free upgrade fro all Windows 7 users regardless of whether the user can prove their copy is legitimate or not. Kind of an amnesty program for Windows pirates tech. AND Microsoft will give select Xiaomi Mi 4 users the chance to test Windows 10 on their phones. Yes their android-based MI phones.

CNET reports on the launch of Sony’s Play Station Vue Internet TV service in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia today, starting at $50 a month after a 7 day free trial. Subscribers can watch 60 channels from CBS, NBCm Fox, Discovery, Scripps, Turner and Viacom, with AMC coming soon. $10 extra adds regional sports channels and another $10 adds 26 various other channels. The service provides 3 day on demand access to many shows programming and allows a cloud DVR to store recordings for up to 28 days. Streams can be viewed on the PS3 and PS4. Support for iPads and other devices is coming soon.

Tim Cook talked with Fast company in a wide ranging interview that touched on Steve Jobs legacy and comparisons of Apple with Microsoft. Cook said he thinks Apple is more willing than Microsoft to walk away from legacy technology that holds it back. He also unsurprisingly said the Apple Watch will be the first smartwatch that matters. Doubtless that is true. To Tim Cook.

Engadget has a story on HTC’s new “Uh Oh Protection” program that will replace your broken “One M9” smart phone once for free. HTC will replace your phone for free within the 1st year of ownership if you break the screen, damage the phone, or move carriers. If you happen to take care of the phone for the 1st year you’ll be rewarded with a $100 discount on the purchase of a new One phone in the future.

The Verge reports Google X’s Astro Teller spoke at SXSW telling the audience that Google’s research lab is opening up about their projects more often and earlier. He mentioned that the Google Glass Explorer program was an attempt to do this but it was marketed too much and too often implied it was a finished project. He also talked about how baloons for Project Loon were built to fail fast so they wouldn’t accidentally drift into illegal airspace, stories about self-driving cars avoiding ducks, and how the team was disappointed when a drone delivery prototype didn’t crash in windy conditions.

CNET reports that a German court in Frankfurt has given a preliminary ruling that could ban UberPop. This means UberPop’s carpooling service would not be allowed to run in Germany and could face a fine of 250,000 Euros ($266,000). The case against UberPop was brought to court by Taxi Deutschland which argued that UberPop is illegal because drivers do not have to have the proper licenses to drive people around. Since the ruling is preliminary UberPop can still operate until a final verdict is rendered in 3 to 4 weeks. Uber Taxi and Uber Black services in Germany are unaffected.

 

News From You:

lookatthemonkeys notes The Verge reports French police visited Ubers Paris office as part of an investigation into UberPop, seizing email, documents and smartphones. And to complete the hat trick, starfuryzeta noted the Gizmodo story that Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and almost 30 others have been charged in South Korea with operating illegal taxi services. Police there seized 432 itens as evidence including handsets.

ancrod2 found the Popular Science writeup of Grant Campany, director for the $10 million Qualcomm Tricorder Xprize, speaking at SXSW about how close we are to having a real working tricorder. The prize will go to companies that can develop a home device to tracks vital signs and diagnoses up to 15 health conditions. 10 finalists were recently announced.The next round comes with 480 testing sessions in June at the University of California San Diego. The winners of the competition will be announced in January 2016, on Star Trek’s 50-year anniversary.

Guyfromtrinidad sent us this story from Engadget reporting on the fate of 43 year old Nigel Wilson in England who flew his drone over 6 football stadiums as well as Westminster and the Queen Victoria Memorial. Wilson has been charged with contravening the CAA’s Air Navigation Order 2009, which among other things forbids flying a drone near an event hosting more than 1,000 people. Wilson was summoned to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on April 16th.

 

Discussion Section Links:  

http://www.cnet.com/news/sony-launches-playstation-vue-as-bigger-pricier-internet-tv/
http://www.cnet.com/news/playstation-vue-vs-sling-tv-streaming-live-tv-compared/
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1R6zswJ0O0Q9RMldnsHAC6VrQjJTOaUYVzWT7MOt6_L4/pubhtml
 http://www.theverge.com/a/online-tv-stream-price-guide

 

Pick of the day: RiffTrax

My pick is something a little different, RiffTrax!

If you are unfamiliar, rifftrax.com features some of the cast of Mystery Science Theater. The group records funny commentary tracks for major films, B-Movies and shorts.

Commentaries for major films are offered as .MP3 Downloads that you’ll then need to sync up with a copy of the film yourself. But if that sounds like too much work, they also offer a great selection of smaller films that you can download pre-synced and DRM free!

Some of my personal favorites are Viva Knievel, The Guy From Harlem, Kingdom of the Spiders (Staring William Shatner!) and Cool as Ice!

Check them out!

Rob (@blamrob on twitter)

(And no, I don’t work for Rifftrax or stand anything to gain by recommending them) :)Messages

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Warren Owen writes us with an idea.

Nintendo has dropped quarter after quarter, year after year, for half a decade. With roughly $6B in sales, yet only $29M in profit, Nintendo has a market cap of $16.8B.

Maybe now is the time. Time for what? Well What if another company just came in and bought Nintendo. Say a company with $173B in sales, $37B in profit, and $8.5B CASH ON HAND. What would happen to the “great mobile wars” if Apple bought Nintendo, and had everyones favorite characters only available on iOS? What if you could play these games, and then “AirPlay” them to your HDTV through your AppleTV (voiceover – now featuring HBO Now). What would that look like in every home across the planet? And, keep DeNA in the mix, to continue the development of new games with our old favorite heroes.
This would seem to be the perfect move for Apple.

Sorry this was long and dramatic. ;-)
What are your thoughts?

@WOnet on all the social things

BOL REUNION!

Just announced: The Buzz Out Loud 10 Year reunion on March 29th at 12:30 pacific /3:30 p eastern and 7:30p GMT! It’s free! Tom, Molly, Veronica, Jason and many other special guests! Tickets for the event at the Hak 5 warehouse are available at http://bit.ly/BOLreunion but if you want to attend online you don’t need even need a ticket. The event will stream live on Alpha Geek Radio and on YouTube with more details forthcoming.

Buzztown’s Back!

PODCAST AWARDS

Also Podcast Awards! Remember yesterday, and the day before, when we told you how you could vote for your favorite podcast in the Podcast Awards? Well guess what, you can vote again today! For example, you could vote for DTNS in the technology category, but you can also support Night Attack in the “Mature” and “Video” categories. Also you can vote for The Instance, Film Sack and our good friends at The Morning Stream and Night Attack. I guess you could also vote for Serial. But only once. Vote once a day at http://www.podcastawards.com/ until March 24th.

Thursday’s guest: Justin Robert Young

 

DTNS 2451 – Internet Explorer of House Microsoft, the Eleventh of it’s Name, and Last of it’s Line, the Unpatched, Breaker of Compatibility, and Bringer of Frustration

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comPatrick Beja talks with us about Nintendo’s tentative move to mobile phones and tablets and the mysterious NX console platform that’s coming.

MP3

Using a Screen Reader? click here

Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.

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 guests: Patrick Beja, DTNS contributor and host of the Pixels podcast, Le Rendez-vous Tech and The Phileas Club

Headlines: 

It’s that time again. Apple Television Rumor time! This one comes from the Wall Street Journal. Apple will supposedly launch a TV service with around 25 channels for around $30-$40 dollars a month. It would include ABC CBS and Fox channels but not NBC because of a dispute with Comcast. However 9to5 Mac has a source that says NBC wants to launch apps on Apple TV, Fire TV and Xbox in the second half of this year. The new NBC app would require a cable subscription in order to us.

 

Engadget reports that Google has started reviewing some apps before they are available for download in the Google Play Store.
The policy, which has been in effect for a few month, uses a mix of algorithms and human intervention.  Google also launched a rating system for Android apps that will label which games are appropriate for various age groups.

Nintendo announced in a press conference that it will partner with mobile game publisher DeNA to make original mobile games using Nintendo characters and worlds. Along with the new games, this autumn Nintendo will launch a cross-platform membership service for mobile devices, PC and Nintendo devices. One of those devices will someday be a new game console referred to as NX. Nintendo called it an “entirely new concept” but we won’t hear any details on that until next year. Ars Technica has one of the best stories rounding up the details.

Engadget reports Microsoft announced Windows 10 will support logins by fingerprint, facial recognition and iris scan.  Of course the device it’s running on has to have the right sensor—- but a framework called Hello will make sure the login experience is consistent across different manufacturers.  For devices without sensors, a feature called Passport lets you enter a password and device-specific PIN.  All the biometric data and the PIN will be stored on the machine.

Engadget notes Sling TV launched today on Xbox One. You can pin Sling TV to your Home screen, control the app with Kinect for Xbox One and Snap with other activities so you can play games and watch Sling TV at the same time. Existing Xbox One owners can try out the service free for a month (up from the usual 7 day trial). If you don’t have an Xbox One you can get 3 months free if you purchase an Xbox One before March 22 2015 from a Microsoft retail outlet or online store.

PC World reports Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang revealed details about the GeForce Titan X at the GPU Technology Conference.
The card has 3072 CUDA cores, 12 GB of RAM and costs $1,000.
Huang claimed the single-precision floating point performance is 7 TFLOPS but only 200 GFLOPs in double-precision. The one benchmark revealed was neural net analysis.  Titan X can process the data in 1.5 days compared to 5 days for the Titan Black.

ReCode reports NVidia also announced a self-driving car platform called Drive PX that will go on sale in May for $10,000. This is the platform teased at CES, powered by two Tegra X1 chips and supposedly 3,000 times faster than DARPA’s DAVE platform. The platform also can be trained and Huang said it gets smarter with every OTA update. NVidia hopes to expand its partnerships with Tesla, Audi and BMW. He’ll probably get his wish with Tesla since Elon Musk joined him on stage to talk about security with self-driving cars.

ReCode reports Facebook has launched the ability to send payments through Facebook Messenger at no cost.  Once you’ve tied your debit card to your Facebook account, you can click a dollar sign icon to open a payment screen in messenger.  If someone sends you money and you don’t have a debit card attached, Facebook will hold the money for you until you get it set up.  No payment can be sent without a PIN or thumbprint scan.  The rollout will start in selected US cities and progress internationally later.

3D printing start-up, Carbon3D, has developed a new 3-D printing process that works fast enough to be used for production instead of just protyping reports Re/Code. The process is called CLIP or Continuous Liquid Interface Production. CLIP involves using light and oxygen to grow objects from a pool of resin instead of building the object layer by layer. Carbon3D says CLIP is 25-100 times faster than traditional 3-D writing and can work with a wider array of materials. Carbon3D debuted the technology Monday at the TED conference in Vancouver and said they are turning it inot a shipping product but did not state price.

News From You:

tahras submitted the Verge article that Microsoft marketing chief Chris Capossel told folks at the Microsoft Convergence event that Microsoft is researching a new name for the Project Spartan browser that will come in Windows 10. Testing shows that whatever the name is, it is perceived better if it has the name Microsoft at the beginning. A version of Internet Explorer will also ship with Windows 10 but it will be the last of its name.

KAPT_Kipper wants you to know that you can now pause videos on your Google Chromecast with your TV remote. As long as it is infrared and has a play/pause button.  TechCrunch reports that Chromecast uses the HDMI-CEC protocol for the function.  So if starting a cast turns your TV on, then this should work for you.  The functionality doesn’t work in every app yet but works in many.

tninja3000 sent us the GeekWire report that Microsoft will let third party retailers Amazon, Best Buy and Target sell the Microsoft Band wearable starting today. The fitness and health tracker already available in Microsoft stores costs $199.99 in the US and offers notifications and lightweight apps, and integration with Android, iOS and Windows Phone. The Microsoft Band will also launch April 15th in the UK,for £169.99.

Discussion Section Links:  

http://recode.net/2015/03/17/why-nintendo-making-mobile-games-is-such-a-big-deal/
http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/17/nintendo-partners-with-dena-to-brings-its-games-and-ip-to-smartphones/
http://www.cnet.com/news/mario-set-for-smartphones-as-nintendo-forges-new-mobile-deal/#ftag=CAD590a51e
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/03/nintendo-partners-with-dena-to-develop-mobile-phone-games/
http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/17/nintendo-nx-console/?ncid=rss_truncated

 

Pick of the day: streamingnation.com.au

G’day Tom, Jenny and Pals

Travis from Melbourne, Australia here – with a website that might be useful to other Aussies, especially over the next few weeks. It’s streamingnation.com.au, covering news about the local options for streaming video.

There’s two Netflix-ish services who’ve recently launched, being Presto and Stan, but the elephant in the room is Netflix itself (coming next week, baby!)

Streaming Nation also has lists of newly added shows and films, and has recommendations, which I’m keeping for those nights when my wife just can’t make up her mind :)

Keep up the awesome work.

Trav.

Messages

I am a cablevision internet subscriber. I don’t have a cable box, only a TiVo . If I subscribed to HBONOW through cablevision, how would I watch? Through apple TV with cable login? Would I have to get a box? If this is the case, why bother? Discounts? Otherwise apple TV would be more convenient, right? Thanks from one of your bosses, Bob

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Comcast in North Georgia cable modem users here. We have a 300 GB limit…. and if you cross the magic threshold, they just start charging you some flat rate for each additional 10 or 50 GB or something (I have NOT done this), so now they just make more money from bandwidth hogs.

Woo hoo. No more bandwidth caps. Just what I asked for, sort of.

whistl

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We asked for legal uses of P2P after the story that Windows 10 updates will be distributed peer to peer. Mink sent us a link to a makeuseof post from August 2013 that mentioned Archive.org, government data sets, BitTorrent Sync, and BitTorrent bundles. Branden from Winterless Salt Lake serves up 6.6 TB of apps and patches via P2P for the 40,000 computers in his school district. And William downloaded the entire BitCoin blockchain shaving a day off the time to get his bitcoin node up and running.

And Mink added the interesting question of “whether “mobile” (slower & less reliable networks with more data caps and using inherently smaller storage devices) will make torrents more or less attractive to users. “

=====

Hey guys!

A few months back I sent in an audio recording which you played where I discussed the opportunities that are created by GoPro’s new product with builtin wifi/internet service (hopefully). Meerkat would be crazy not to reach out to them for reasons I am sure you can understand. I shot Meerkats support a brief email as well since they are a fun little startup. They could do great things together.

Thanks!
Joe

BOL REUNION!

Just announced: The Buzz Out Loud 10 Year reunion on March 29th at 12:30 pacific /3:30 p eastern and 7:30p GMT! It’s free! Tom, Molly, Veronica, Jason and many other special guests! Tickets for the event at the Hak 5 warehouse are available at http://bit.ly/BOLreunion but if you want to attend online you don’t need even need a ticket. The event will stream live on Alpha Geek Radio and on YouTube with more details forthcoming.

Buzztown’s Back!

PODCAST AWARDS

Also Podcast Awards! Remember yesterday, and the day before, when we told you how you could vote for your favorite podcast in the Podcast Awards? Well guess what, you can vote again today! For example, you could vote for DTNS in the technology category, but you can also support Night Attack in the “Mature” and “Video” categories. Also you can vote for The Instance, Film Sack and our good friends at The Morning Stream and Night Attack. I guess you could also vote for Serial. But only once. Vote once a day at http://www.podcastawards.com/ until March 24th.

Wednesday’s guest: Iyaz Akhtar

 

DTNS 2450 – Down Meerkat, Up Periscope?

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comNicole Lee joins us to talk about Meerkat. Has it brought back SXSW’s app magic? Can it survive?

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 guests: Nicole Lee of Engadget.com

Headlines: 

The Verge reports Facebook updated its community standards page Sunday night to clarify what the policies are. They haven’t actually changed the policy. Among the clarifications Facebook says they want people to use the name they go by regularly, not necessarily their legal name. Hate speech is allowed for satire or commentary. Nudity is still not allowed but more strictly defined and exceptions made for artwork.

TechCrunch notes numbers of government requests for Facebook data were also released. Requests decreased in the US and UK while increasing in India, Turkey and Russia. The US still requests the most while India is number 2. The total number worldwide rose from 34,946 in the first half of the year, to 35,051 between July and December 2014.

The Verge reports Microsoft launched Office 2016 preview. Microsoft improved search, storage footprint, and email delivery performance, as well as image insertion in Word and Excel 2016. Not all the new features for Office 2016 are in the rpeview yet. Microsoft also launched a test version of Skype for Business, with the ability to integrate with Office apps. The final version of Skype for Business will be available in April, with the final Office 2016 coming later this year. Interested? sign up at Microsoft Connect website at connect.microsoft.com.

Reuters reports BlackBerry will launch high security tablet aimed at governments and enterprise in cooperation with IBM and Samsung. The SecuTABLET is based on the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 and works with BlackBerry’s SecuSuite for voice and data encryption. The device is undergoing certification by the German Federal Office for Information Security for secure rating. According to the Wall St Journal, the tablet will be available this summer at a price of $2,380

TechCrunch notes Elon Musk tweeted yesterday that a Tesla press conference will take place Thursday at 9 AM and “end range anxiety… via OTA software update. Affects entire Model S Fleet.”

TechCrunch has covered a new report by the Pew Research Center found 30% of US citizens surveyed have taken steps to shield or hide their information from the US government. TechCrunch notes 52% of those surveyed said they were “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” by government surveillance programs, but 46% said they were “not very concerned” or “not at all concerned.” The survey found that 87% of adults have heard at least something about government surveillance programs and 57% said it is unacceptable for the government to monitor the communications of US citizens, but a majority said spying elsewhere is OK. Most often peopleo change privacy settings on social media, avoiding apps entirely and using social media less. Well… is that about government interference or drunk selfies?

Engadget reports on the launch of free public Internet service at a Havana cultural center. Popular artist Kcho got approval from the state telecom Etecsa to open up his WiFi router at the cultural center. The connection is 2 Mbps but doesn’t caust a centavo.

Variety reports HBO Now will be offered by Cablevision to its broadband-only subscribers. In other words if you get your Internet fro Cablevision, you won’t also have to sign up for TV if you want HBO. Cablevision said it will provide pricing and other details about how HBO Now will be made available to broadband subs in the coming weeks.

News From You:

Rpattony posted the TorrentFreak article highlighting another of the many nuggets found in the recent US Open Internet order. “Nothing in this part prohibits reasonable efforts by a provider of broadband Internet access service to address copyright infringement or other unlawful activity.” It is apparently OK for the ISP to determine what is illegal and what is infringement.

Starfuryzeta sent us this story from the Verge reporting on Yahoo’s new Password-free email login. The new approach dubbed “on demand” passwords sends Yahoo email users a time sensitive code through an app or cellphone text message. No more need to remember a password. Every time you login you’ll be sent a new code. Just don’t lose the phone tied to the account. The new password features is available now and can be enabled from the security section of your account information page.

KAPT_Kipper found the Yahoo Tumbler post announcing the release of source code for Yahoo’s new end-to-end encryption browser extension for Yahoo Mail. The encryption interface is described as intuitive, however, it will have to be activated each time you want it and info like recipient, subject line and time will remain unencrypted. Yahoo used the Google end to end extension in the project. Yahoo released the source code to GitHub and plans to have end to end encryption available for all users by the end of the year.

Eziwireless sent us this Engadget report on Windows 10’s unique update feature. The Verge noticed that a leaked version of Windows 10 lets you grab updates from other PCs whether they’re local or online.This peer-to-peer network patching would accelerate the updating process as well as limiting bandwidth usage on metered internet connections.

Philman 132 submitted the Boing Bong BBS post about GNU Terry Pratchett. When implemented on Apache or Nginx, web-servers transmit a special “X-Clacks-Overhead” header reading “GNU Terry Pratchett.” Pratchett’s book Going Postal described a system called The Clacks where workers who died in the line of duty could have their name transmitted in the system’s signaling layer, because (“A man is not dead while his name is still spoken”

 

Discussion Section Links:  Twitter & Meerkat

blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/03/16/after-twitter-snub-meerkat-aims-to-push-out-new-features/?mod=rss_Technology

www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/mar/16/meerkat-twitter-block-ben-rubin-social-graph

techcrunch.com/2015/03/16/meerkatroullette-is-chatroulette-for-meerkat-because-meerkat

meerkatroulette.com

techcrunch.com/2015/03/14/bird-vs-mammal

www.fastcompany.com/3043716/sxsw/twitter-only-gave-meerkat-2-hours-notice-before-cutting-access-to-the-social-graph

Pick of the Day: 

Christopher Ragsdale writes: In listening to this discussion on episode 2448 I was reminded of an interview I had heard recently with author Douglass Rushkoff about his book “Present Shock”. Not trying to sell books here. I think you and Jennie might be interested in the info in this book:

rushkoff.com/present-shock

Messages

Every time y’all talk about how bandwidth caps on home Internet access is a thing of the past, my left eye twitches in a peculiar manner. Y’see, I have Comcast as my ISP. The highest tier home service available in my area (Charleston, SC). And we have a 300GB per month cap. Did I mention that this cap only went into place about a year and a half ago? Surprisingly (or not?), not very long after the cap went into place, Comcast had the infamous share holder call in which the CEO stated flatly that Comcast has no plans to implement bandwidth caps.

Cheers,
-Sam

=====

Buzz Out Loud REUNION!

Join the Buzz Out Loud 10 Year reunion on March 29th at 12:30 pacific /3:30 p eastern and 7:30p GMT! It’s free! Tom, Molly, Veronica, Jason and many other special guests! Tickets for the event at the Hak 5 warehouse are available at http://bit.ly/BOLreunion but if you want to attend online you don’t need even need a ticket. The event will stream live on Alpha Geek Radio and on YouTube with more details forthcoming.

Buzztown’s Back!

PODCAST AWARDS

Also Podcast Awards! Remember yesterday, and the day before, when we told you how you could vote for your favorite podcast in the Podcast Awards? Well guess what, you can vote again today! For example, you could vote for DTNS in the technology category, but you can also support Night Attack in the “Mature” and “Video” categories. Also you can vote for The Instance, Film Sack and our good friends at The Morning Stream and Night Attack. I guess you could also vote for Serial. But only once. Vote once a day at http://www.podcastawards.com/ until March 24th.

Tuesday’s guest: Patrick Beja!

DTNS 2449 – South by So Wealthy

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comDarren Kitchen and Brian Brushwood join to talk about the effect tech is having on Brian’s home town and the SXSW Interactive festival. Plus Len Peralta illustrates the show.

MP3

Using a Screen Reader? click here

Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.

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!

Today’s guests: Darren Kitchen of hak5.org, Brian Brushwood of nightattack.tv  & Len Peralta of the Cleveland, Ohio Arts Society

Check out Len’s amazing DTNS original artwork:

http://lenperaltastore.com/products/keep-austin-weirdest-dtns-3-13-15-print

Headlines: 

Reuters reports Microsoft will use research from its Einstein AI project in the next version of Cortana. Cortana is coming to Windows 10 this autumn and Reuters sources say it will come to iOS and Android later as well. Einstein combines speech recognition with machine learning to anticipate user needs.

TechCrunch reports YouTube now lets you upload and view 360-degree video. You have to run a Python script to check for correct metadata so YouTube recognizes the upload as a 360-degree clip, but YouTube says it’s working on automating that part of the process. Next question: How many of you are going to record360 degree video?

Open Signal’s State of LTE post is up. Spaion leads the way with fastest LTE at 18 Mbps and Vodafone ES in Spain has the fastets network in the world at 25.5 Mbps. LG U+ in South Korea has the best coverage at 99% and South Korea as whole has the best coverage at 95%. Top 5 countries for speed were Spain, Finland, Denmark, South Korea and Hungary. The Bottom five were Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Mexico, the US and the Philippines.

The Next Web reports that Twitter finally confirmed it purchased live streaming startup Periscope – back in January. Periscope tweeted out “You may have heard some news: It involves a blue bird” followed by a bunch of hashtags one of which was #WeJoinedTheFlockInJanuary. Twitter then re-tweeted the announcement from its official account. If you haven’t heard of Periscope until now, its because they haven’t officially launched yet, and don’t have a publicly available app. In totally unrelated news, live streaming video app Meerkat has attracted tens of thousands of users since it launched at the end of February.

Excerpts from the book “Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader” by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli are spinning out lots of stories ahead of its March 24th release. CultofMac reports among the tidbits are Tim Cook offering to give Jobs part of his liver and being yelled at. Jobs considering partnering with Disney to buy Yahoo. And Jobs telling Jony Ive after his return to Apple in the late 1990s “Apple will never make a TV again.”

MultiChannel.com reports that Moffett Nathanson Research calculated Google Fiber ended 2014 with 29,867 video subscribers across, Stanford, Provo, and Kansas City based on numbers released by the US Copyright Office today. Moffett noted that counts for just 0.025% of the US video market. He also pointed out that high programming costs have dented deployment and has increased TV/1-Gig bundle prices for new subscribers in KC. Google Fiber’s broadband subscribers, which would higher, aren’t factored in the US Copyright Office’s numbers but Moffett says they are likely to be “meaningfully higher.”

Reuters reports IBM is considering using the blockchain system used in bitcoin, to create digital cash and payment systems for other currencies. The potential is there to make fast fee-free payments online using currencies like the dollar or the Euro.It would likely not be anonymous as a digital wallet would be linked to a bank account. IBM is seeking the cooperation of central banks like the US Federal Reserve. The Bank of England has stated it considers the blockchain open ledger a significant innovation.

ArsTechnica reports that Google will close its Google Code programming project hosting service. Google says the reduced number of users as existing developers migrated to GitHub and Bitbucket and the increased number of spammers and abuse are factors. Google itself moved a number of their open source projects from Google code to GitHub. Google is providing migration tools to export projects to GitHub and Bitbucket, and SourceForge is offering a Google Code project import service. New projects will no longer be accepted as of today and updates to existing projects will not be accepted after August 24th. The site will close down completely January 25, 2016.

The US Federal Communications Commission is putting its review of Comcast Corp.’s deal for Time Warner Cable and AT&T Inc.’s planned acquisition of DirecTV on hold, pending a court decision related to the disclosure of video-programming contracts. The FCC says it can’t go forward with the review of these deals until a court determines whether interested parties should be granted limited access to confidential information about the involved companies. The FCC already has these documents and is free to review them on their own, but the broadcasters object to the notion of this sensitive data being shared with people outside of the Commission, even if done under high security and strict non-disclosure agreements.

 

 

 

News From You:

starfuryzeta submitted the Verge article by Russell Brandom about the new rules for transparency in the US FCC’s Open Internet Order. Packet loss has been added as a metric for ISP’s to make public which led some engineers to fear networks would be forced to add more buffering and latency to juice the stats to look good. However the full order says that packet loss will be listed alongside existing latency and bandwidth reporting.

KAPT_Kipper sent us this story from ArsTechnica that since the middle of 2013, Google Apps for Work leaked hidden whois data attached to 282,867 domains. A bug in the way Google Apps integrated with eNom’s com registration program interface caused private whois info including names, phone numbers, email and physical addresses to be leaked when domains were renwed. Cisco Systems research discovered the flaw Feb 19 and five days later the leak was patched. eNom charged an extra $6/yr to shield the info from public view.

Discussion Section Links:  Waning Weird 

http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/legal-and-management/6502060/austin-and-sxsws-waning-weirdness-blame-spiking-real

Pick of the Day: 

Kevin: I hope this hasn’t already been mentioned, but given the how many times Radio Shack has been discussed lately, my pick is:

radioshackcatalogs.com

If you, like me, spent way too many hours pouring through the catalogs, you will enjoy seeing these familiar pages again.

Messages

Hey Tom and Jenny,

For Valentines day my wife subscribed to HBO via my ATT Uverse cable. For several weeks I’ve been getting caught up with Game of Thrones which I’ve only been watching in the 5am EST hour on ROKU, when I’ve been running on my treadmill….Not a single problem. Tonight and for the first time I watched an episode on my XBOX One and it happened to be during prime time. It was extremely choppy would have to wait for queuing of the show just about every minute (not exaggerating). … Are the cable companies grasping at straws and slowing down online content at certain hours to make the consumer want to keep watching via the cable box? While I most certainly hope not…I can’t help but think they are.

Not quite an executive producer, but close. – David Wilke

========

I wanted to throw a totally self-promotional pick out there for your European fans. I put together a special 30-minute programme for my new podcast Tech’s Message about the European Apple Watch. It’s had some amazing feedback and in the interest of also trying to get some more ears on the show I hoped you might be interested in checking it out.

It’s at natelanxon.com/podcast and marked as a special edition, and is in all the iTunes stores and podcatcher directories under Tech’s Message.

Looking forward to joining you on the show soon! Nate

=====

BOL REUNION!

Just announced: The Buzz Out Loud 10 Year reunion on March 29th at 12:30 pacific /3:30 p eastern and 7:30p GMT! It’s free! Tom, Molly, Veronica, Jason and many other special guests! Tickets for the event at the Hak 5 warehouse are available at http://bit.ly/BOLreunion but if you want to attend online you don’t need even need a ticket. The event will stream live on Alpha Geek Radio and on YouTube with more details forthcoming.

Buzztown’s Back!

PODCAST AWARDS

Also Podcast Awards! Remember yesterday, and the day before, when we told you how you could vote for your favorite podcast in the Podcast Awards? Well guess what, you can vote again today! For example, you could vote for DTNS in the technology category, but you can also support Night Attack in the “Mature” and “Video” categories. Also you can vote for The Instance, Film Sack and our good friends at The Morning Stream and Night Attack. I guess you could also vote for Serial. But only once. Vote once a day at http://www.podcastawards.com/ until March 24th.

Wednesday’s guest: Eklund!

DTNS 2448 – Ephemeral Billions?

Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.comJustin Young is in for an early show wherein we greet the new FCC Open Internet Rules and discuss why Snapchat is worth $15 billion these days.

MP3

Using a Screen Reader? click here

Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.

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

“As Ars Technica reports the FCC released its report on “Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet”. In the 400 page document the rules themselves make up 8 pages. The rest is commentary and analysis including a 64-page dissent from Commissioner Ajit Pai and a 16-page dissent from Commissioner Michael O’Reilly. Among the analysis are the forebearances from Title II which include this line that will cause most of the debate: “”we do not forbear from
sections 201, 202, and 208.”” The rules will now be published in the Federal Register within a week or two. 60 days after that happens the rules go into effect, except for additions to the transparency rules which require approval by the Office of Management and Budget. Let the parsing BEGIN!”

Recode reports that Apple has stopped selling Jawbone Up, and Nike + FuelBand in its stores ahead of the Apple Watch launch. The Mio, a heart tracking device worn on the wrist, can only be found in Apple’s online store. Recode checked stores in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Los Angeles and New York. The CEO of Mio said Apple notified her a few months ahead of time that the tracker would be removed from the store, citing a desire to “rework branding for the stores, and to make the Apple brand more front and center” and “minimize the number of accessories.”

Bloomberg Business reports that 11,000 people have already signed up for a Stanford University cardiovascular study using Apple’s Research Kit. The medical director of Stanford’s Cardiovascular Heath department said that getting 10,000 people enrolled in a medical study would normally take a year, and 50 medical centers around the country. The article also notes some researchers are skeptical that the data won’t be skweed by the type of participant or rendered controversial by things like unclear consent forms. Way to harsh Stanford’s mellow, Bloomberg Business.

Buzzfeed reports that Twitter has issued new rules that say “You may not post intimate photos or videos that were taken or distributed without the subject’s consent.” and says it will lock the accounts of users who violate the rule. The company also issued a new FAQ regarding stolen nudes and revenge porn which they posted on reddit. Users can report possible violations through Twitter’s reporting process.

Reuters reports that U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman in San Jose said Tuesday that plaintiffs can bring a class action against Facebook regarding online purchases by children. Facebook argued against a class action, saying the claims were too disparate, and an injunction would not address them. The parents of two children who made large amounts of in app purchases brought the suit in April 2012. It says Facebook violated California law by refusing refunds under its “all sales are final” policy when the parents complained. A trial date is set for October 19th.

Bloomberg has sources that say Alibaba will invest $200 million in Snapchat based on a valuation of $15 billion. Snapchat is supposedly seeking a round of $500 million of investment. CB Insights says the valuation ranks it right behind Uber at $40 billion and Xiaomi at $45 billion.

Meanwhile Reuters reports Alibaba is hiring in Seattle for positions related to cloud computing. Microsoft and Amazon, also in the Seattle area, also do cloud computing. Alibaba has already hired 10 software engineers or computing experts from either Microsoft or Amazon since July 2014. Alibaba launched its first cloud computing hub outside of China on March 4 in Silicon Valley.

Reuters reports US District Judges Edward Chen and Vince Chhabria in San Francisco federal court said in two rulings that the status of drivers for Uber and Lyft will need to be decided by juries. Both companies face class action lawsuits on behalf of drivers who want the benefits of being employees not independent contractors.

The BBC is working with Samsung, Microsoft, ARM and the people behind Raspberry Pi to give 1 million 11 year-olds in the UK a free computer reports CNET. The low cost machine, still in development, is called the Micro Bit, and is similar to the Raspberry Pi and Arduino. The unit fits inside the palm of a child’s hand and sports a simple array of LED lights as a display plus Bluetooth. It launches this September and will support Python, C++, and Touch Develop. The BBC will also launchshows about programming as well as a new drama based on the development of Grand Theft Auto along with a documentary on Bletchley Park.

Reuters reports Xiaomi will being local production of devices in India within 12 to 18 months. Xiaomi has sold more than a million phones in 5 months in India. Xiaomi is also looking to invest in start-ups and service centers and will open 100 stores in the country to help consumers “experience” the phones. So you’ll be able to walk into a store in India and by a Mi Phone? No. Xiaomi insist on continuing to use online flash sales and Flipkart.com to actually sell phones.

The Next Web reports a new UK Parliamentary report from the Intelligence and Security Committee revealing how the agencies gathered bulk personal data, and recommending Britain’s laws governing those agencies should be overhauled. Some members of the UK’s intelligence services have been fired for “inappropriately” accessing personal data. The report concludes that existing laws were not broken and bulk data collection did not amount to mass surveillance or threaten privacy.

If you’ve seen the video going around of a laughing Spanish man subtitled as if he’s telling the story of how the new MacBook was created, the Next Web would like you to know. Juan Joya, a Spanish actor and comedian known as El Risitas. If you don’t speak the language, the story he’s actually telling is about washing pots and pans in the ocean. It is the new “Hitler Reacts.”

Bad news in chip town. Reuters reports Intel cut its revenue forecast for Q1 from $13.7 billion to $12.8 billion +- $300 million, citing lower-than-expected demand for business PCs and lower inventory levels across the PC supply chain.

News From You

metalfreak submitted the Ars Technica article that Google now claims its Project Loon balloons can stay aloft for more than 6 months and deliver LTE service to an area the size of Rhode Island. The US State of Rhode Island is 3,140 km².

philo1927 cited two stories of major companies taking a breather from competing. In a TechDirt article Cablevision vice chairman Gregg Seibert says “I don’t want to roll a truck to you every two years if you keep going back and forth to another provider … So we’re getting rid of that lower quality, lower profitability base of subscriber.” And in a CNET article, AT&T CFO John Stephens says “We won’t chase customers net additions for the sake of another account. We’re going to be smart about it.”

Discussion: Snapchat

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-11/alibaba-said-to-plan-snapchat-funding-at-15-billion-valuation
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/11/us-alibaba-snapchat-idUSKBN0M72L320150311
http://digiday.com/platforms/madness-snapchat-moves-closer-becoming-sports-broadcaster/
http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/03/dont-even-try-to-be-chic-on-snapchat.html

 

Pick of the day: tapiriik.com

I had wanted to keep this one to myself as it is so useful but it’s probably time to share…

I am a keen runner and will change running tracking app depending on features or, for example, whether my Garmin is charged! I also like to keep a backup of my runs on Dropbox. Have a look at the site – he supports all major providers – a massive selection and it keeps growing.

There is only one service which allows this – tapiriik.com. It is run by a chap called Colin Fair who offers great support. Best of all, it’s free for manual syncing. If you want automagic syncing, it costs a paltry $2 per year.

Oh, and it isn’t limited to running, but all sports. It will even sync activities marked private and keep them private.

I encourage listeners to try it and to pay for it!

Love the show, as ever.

Andrew from libertine London

Message:

Hello Tom,
Another issue with MLB tv is, if you are in between markets, you are considered part of their viewing areas. I live in Charlotte and when I subscribed two years ago I was considered to be in the Atlanta Braves, Washington Nationals, Baltimore Orioles, and for some reason the Cincinnati Reds markets. As a Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox fan it seemed like every game I tried to watch was blacked out because of markets or national broadcasting rights, so I cancelled the service. Thanks for the great work.
Chris in Charlotte NC
Sent from my iPhone

Tomorrow’s guest: Brian Brushwood! Darren Kitchen! Len Peralta!

for Tom's full site visit tommerritt.com