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

MP3

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

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

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

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here at the low, low cost of a nickel a day on Patreon. Thank you!

Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!

Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!

Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

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

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

Headlines:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

News From You:

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

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

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

Discussion Section: BOL 1089 Net Neutrality

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

http://strawpoll.me/2989878/r

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pick of the Day: TTS Pocket via Rolando

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

Rolando
– your fan from Paraguay

Monday’s guest: Justin Robert Young, DTNS contributor

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

MP3

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

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

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

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here at the low, low cost of a nickel a day on Patreon. Thank you!

Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!

Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!

Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

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

Headlines:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

News From You:

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

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

Discussion Section: Facebook has new Terms of Service

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pick of the Day: Desert Bus via krvhill

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

Friday’s Guests: Molly Wood and Len Peralta

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

MP3

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

Headlines:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

News From You:

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

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

Discussion Section: Facebook has new Terms of Service

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pick of the Day: Desert Bus via krvhill

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

Friday’s Guests: Molly Wood and Len Peralta

Michael Wolf is on the show today, we’ll cover the latest net neutrality stuff, YouTube’s music service but also talk about Quirky’s move to bring down the price of the smart home.

MP3

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

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

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

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here at the low, low cost of a nickel a day on Patreon. Thank you!

Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!

Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!

Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Michael Wolf, host of The Smart Home Show  

Headlines:

Tom Wheeler is having a bad week. The Washington Post reports that hours after the President of the US expressed his opinions on the FCC’s Open Internet Guidelines, Wheeler told executives from major Web companies in a meeting. “What you want is what everyone wants: an open Internet that doesn’t affect your business. What I’ve got to figure out is how to split the baby.” He also started a meme inadvertently by repeatedly telling participants, “I am an independent agency.” Meanwhile FCC’s Special Counsel for External Affairs Gigi Sohn tweeted that “all options are on the table.” Which is in danger of being tableflipped I expect.

In other net neutrality news, FCC press secretary Kim Hart told the BBC. “There will be no vote on open internet rules in the December meeting agenda. That would mean rules would now be finalized in 2015.” That won’t sit well with AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson who said at a conference that the company might pause its roll out of fiber to 100 cities until it knows for sure what kinds of rules will govern the Internet. At the same conference Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said, “I think the independent agency of the FCC will make the right decision,” and did NOT add “You have a nice independent agency here, be a shame if something happened to it.” Google responded by making gigabit fiber for businesses available in Kansas City.

TechCrunch reports that YouTube is launching a subscription music service called “Music Key” in beta next week. The service offers access to Google Play’s music library, as well as ad-free music videos, background playback capabilities and offline caching on YouTube. for $7.99 a month at first and then $9.99 per month. To sign up for an invite, go to youtube.com/musickey YouTube has already added music videos in a new section that features personalized playlists and soon full albums.

GigaOm reports on Microsoft’s decision to open source the entire .NET framework as well as making it cross-platform for Linux and OS X. The change will take a few months but Microsoft has started creating .NET repositories on GitHub. Microsoft also announced Visual Studio Community 2013 which will let students and small dev shops build cross-platform applications for free.

The New York Times breaks down some of the results of a Pew Research Center survey of US citizens about privacy. The upshot is people in the US want privacy but won’t do much to insure it themselves. 81% do not feel secure using social media. 80% os users of social networks are concerned about advertisers and 70% about the government. Still 55% are willing to share info with companies for free services. Those with more education higher incomes or those who are generally younger care more about privacy. For instance 59% of young adults feel email content is sensitive compared 42% of older adults.

Samsung announced their Gear VR headset, which uses the Note 4 as a screen, will go on sale in the US in December. Pre-registration has begun at Samsung.com. But GigaOm reports that’s not all. Early adopters will be able to watch live feeds of 36-degree videos in real-time from festivals and other memorable places. Samsung showed off Project Beyond today, a device with 16 cameras that can capture video in 3D.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog reports that Beats announced the release of new wireless Bluetooth headsets today, the first product released since Apple bought Beats. The Solo2 Wireless work within 30 feet and can be used to take calls, adjust volume, and skip. Beats claims 12 hours of wireless playback on a charge. You can get them later this month for $299.95 in black, white, red, and blue. The red one will only be available from Verizon Wireless through the end of the year. Because, marketing.

GigaOm notes the official Android Twitter account says Android Lollipop is rolling out to Nexus devices. Go to Settings > System Updates > Check Now to see if it’s there for you yet. If you don’t want to wait, factory images are available at developers.google.com for Nexus 5, 10 and the 2012 and 2013 versions of Nexus 7.

News From You:

metalfreak submitted the Make article about Robert Coggeshall aka Sudo Bob, making a teletype from a Raspberry Pi. He took a spare teletype he picked up from the NYC REsistor folks at MakerFaire 2013, hooked it up to a Raspberry pi , plugged in an iPad for a typing interface and voila. Teletype. Find out more details at makezine.com or get the full scoop at sudobob.com.

GoodDoc wanted to make sure we all knew that illustrator Randall Munroe spent all last night and this morning live-drawing the European Space Agency’s attempt to land a robot on a comet. Because, oh yeah, the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft travelled for ten years to rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which is moving through space at 80,000 miles per hour, and today they attempted to land a robot probe named Philae on the surface of the comet and it WORKED. Mostly. Philae’s harpoons didn’t fire, but it does act like it landed but their not sure its stable. So ESA is working on that. Check out the final drawing at xkcd.com and feel good about being an earthling today.

Ischenko passed along a report from The Next Web that Amazon is planning to test its Prime Air delivery drones in the United Kingdom. They know this because Amazon placed an ad to hire an engineer based out of Cambridge, UK with “flight test experience, manned or unmanned” and “5+ years of relevant aviation experience, either civilian or military with either manned or unmanned aviation”. In case that isn’t exactly you, Amazon is also hiring Site Leader, Project Manager, Software Development Engineer, Senior Research Scientist and an Office Manager.

And KAPT_Kipper pointed out the followup from Ars Technica to yesterday’s story that the GNOME Foundation was preparing for a trademark battle with Groupon, which put out a point-of-sale tablet product that used the name Gnome. Groupon has given up and “decided to abandon our pending trademark applications for ‘Gnome. We will choose a new name for our product going forward.”

Discussion Section: Quirky

http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/11/7193765/quirky-ge-wink-uniq-spotter-norm-factory

https://www.quirky.com/shop/982-spotter-uniq-customizable-multipurpose-sensor?utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=CJ#.

http://www.wink.com/products/

Pick of the Day: Amazon Smile via Shlomo from Brooklyn

I’m sure almost everyone who listens to the show has bought something from Amazon.com or shops from there regularly. Here’s something that will make your Amazon shopping experience a little more generous. A few months ago I discovered that Amazon has a program called AmazonSmile. To get to it, instead of going to www.amazon.com you go to smile.amazon.com, there’s even a Google Chrome extension called Smile Always that will always redirect you to the smile version of the Amazon.com webpage. When you shop on AmazonSmile, Amazon will donate 0.5% of the money you spent to the charity of your choice. You select this charity when you first visit AmazonSmile and can change it whenever you want. Almost every major charity you can think of is on there as well as many local charities. Organizations can register to receive donations through AmazonSmile on org.amazon.com. Obviously 0.5% is not a lot of money, but if you already donate to charity or if you can’t afford to, this is a nice option that costs you nothing.

Thursday’s Guests:Jason Hiner & Lyndsey Gilpin 

Breki Tomasson is on the show and we’ll talk about Elon Musk and WorldVu’s purported plan to encompass the globe in satellites to bring worldwide Internet coverage about.

MP3

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

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

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

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting the show here at the low, low cost of a nickel a day on Patreon. Thank you!

Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!

Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!

Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Breki Tomasson, founder of the CSICON podcasting network

Headlines:

The Next Web reported that the GNOME foundation, the folks behind the GNOME interface for Linux, is setting up a legal fund to challenge Groupon, which named their iPad-based checkout platform Gnome. You see that Linux interface GNOME is used in some Linux based point of sale systems. The GNOME Foundation asked Groupon to change the name but the company initially refused. Groupon told TNW that it has been trying to come to an agreement with the GNOME Foundation for months and if it cannot come up with a solution it will “…be glad to look for another name.”

TechCrunch reports that Microsoft unveiled its first non-Nokia branded Lumia phone today and its a replacement for the X and Asha lines. The Lumia 535 has a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor and 1GB of ram, with 8GB of memory, expandable to 128 GB. The phone has 5 megapixel cameras on the front and back. The Lumia 535 will run Windows 8.1 Lumia Denim update and comes in a dual-sim variant. The cost is €110 and will go on sale in China, Hong Kong and Bangladesh this month, with “other countries to follow.”

ZDNET’s Mary Jo Foley reports Microsoft has launched a bundle of its subscriptions. The Work & Play bundle combines Office 365, Skype Unlimited World and Wifi, Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Music Pass for $199 a year. The bundle is for sale from now until January 4, or “while supplies last,” though any limit on supplies is purely artificial. If yo already subscribe to any one of those services and sign up for the bundle, you’ll just get 12 months added to your current subscription. Oh the other odd thing is yo ave to go to a Microsoft Store int he US to buy it.

Gigaom reports that YouTube may be close to launching its music subscription service after signing a deal with Merlin, an independent music trade group that represents more than 2000 independent labels. Merlin’s resistance to signing was the source of reports in June that YouTube would block videos from labels that didn’t sign. You Tube already obtained licenses from all three major labels, plus several other indies.

Engadget reports that Nintendo is going to release a new pair of 2DS handheld consoles with see through casing, much like the transparent Game Boy Pocket and Game Boy Color from back in the 1990’s. The “Crystal Red” and “Crystal Blue” versions will launch alongside the new Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire games for $99.99 on November 21st.

The Next Web reports Facebook announced the Internet.org app for Android will arrive in Kenya this week for Airtel subscribers. Internet.org provides access to Internet service without charging for data. Among the services for Kenya are Among the services available are BBC News, BBC Swahili, Facts for Life, Wikipedia, Facebook and Facebook Messenger.

The Next Web reports Microsoft has patched a critical vulnerability that could allow remote code execution just by sending specially crafted packets to a Windows server. The hole is in the Schannel library which handles encryption and authentication in Windows for HTTP apps. Anyone running Windows Server 2003/2008/2012, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and Windows RT should get patch MS14-066 right away.

News From You:

Inge_Aning submitted the Verge article that Microsoft is rebranding its Lync communications software as Skype for Business with the next version set to arrive int he first half of 2015. Basic features won’t change though the interface will get a more Skype-like look and add support for video calling and the Skype directory.

goofball_jones passes along a blog post from Spotify’s founder Daniel Ek, who is frustrated and upset by the recent accusations that Spotify is unfair to artists. Ek says Spotify has paid more than two billion dollars to labels, publishers and collecting societies since 2008, and that piracy has paid artists ZERO dollars. Ek goes on to drop some more numbers, including the fact that a top artists like Taylor Swift would be expected to make $6 million this year from Spotify, if she hadn’t pulled her catalog.

paulgannon01 pointed out the TechCrunch story that Alibaba smashed its sales record on singles day. November 11, marketed as singles day in China, is the country’s biggest ecommerce day of the year. Alibaba did $1 billion in sales in the first 20 minutes and reported sales of 57.1 billion yuan just after midnight, that’s $9.3 billion US. That’s almost double last years number. (The US paltry Cyber Monday sales were $2.29 billion last year.

Discussion Section: Micro-Satellites!

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/11/11/elon-musk-spacex-will-launch-micro-satellites-low-cost-internet/

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/531996243904716800

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/531994668608024576

http://online.wsj.com/articles/elon-musks-next-mission-internet-satellites-1415390062

http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/elon-musk-confirms-ambitions-for-internet-satellites/

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

http://www.spacenews.com/article/satellite-telecom/41755worldvu-a-satellite-startup-aiming-to-provide-global-internet

Pick of the Day: Chrome for the Windows 8 interface via Mike from rainy Beirut

I thought I’d add a suggestion for pick of the day.

I’ve been using Windows 8 from the beginning and I’ve found myself impressed with the innovative GUI and more pleased with each refinement.

That said, my pick isn’t Windows 8, but Chrome for the Windows 8 interface. Chrome started as just the browser last year, but is now a great port of Chrome OS and works well with a touch interface, like my Surface 3. By default, Chrome launches in the traditional desktop, but when you go to the menu bar and relaunch in Windows 8 interface, it switches over, so it’s kind of tricky to find

It’s not a new app, but I was pleasantly surprised when I found out how Google is adapting to Windows brave new interface and it’s now my default.

Wednesday’s Guest: Michael Wolf of technology.com