Molly Wood and Patrick Beja are on and we’ll talk about YouTube’s threat to block indie labels videos and how they could possibly think they could get away with it.

MP3

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

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

Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the 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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest:  Molly Wood columnist for the New York Times & Patrick Beja of Le Rendez-vous Tech

Headlines

TechCrunch reports that Facebook finally released the Slingshot app for iOS and Android. That’s the app they accidentally published to the Apple app store back on June 9. The app lets you send photos and videos to contacts. The twist is the recipients can’t see what you sent until they send you something back. Slingshot also doesn’t store the photos and videos permanently.

Engadget passes along that sources tell the Wall Street Journal that AT&T has signed a deal to be the exclusive carrier in the US for a forthcoming Amazon phone. Amazon has scheduled an announcement for tomorrow morning.

Recode reports Apple agreed to settle a class action suit regarding ebook pricing. Plaintiffs had sought $840 million in damages but the details of the settlement were not made public. Apple is still appealing the court’s ruling from last year that it violated federal and state antitrust rules. Payment of the settlement is contingent on the outcome of that appeal.

The Financial Times reported today that YouTube would begin blocking music videos from certain Indie Labels if they did not agree to new licensing terms that include provisions for a new music service YouTube is preparing to launch. Robert Kyncl, Google’s Vice President and Global Head of Business at YouTube, told the FT blocking would happen in “a matter of days.” Kyncl says record labels representing 95% of the music industry have agreed to terms. The remaining labels, represented by the rights agency Merlin are reportedly holding out for a better deal. The independent music companies association, Impala, is asking the European Commission for emergency assistance regarding the matter.

TechCrunch reports the Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide detector is now back on sale in the US after two months. The device was removed from sale April 3rd, due to safety concerns. A function that allowed users to wave to silence the alarm, could have prevented real alarms from sounding. That wave feature is now disabled.

News From You

AndrewTerry posted the Privacy International article that the UK’s GCHQ made public the fact that it monitors social network users in the UK on services such as Facebook, Twitter and Google. The policy was made public after a legal challenge by several civil liberties organizations. GCHQ justifies the surveillance based on the fact that such communications are considered ‘external communications.’ Privacy organizations worry that even text messages and email sent through such services could be intercepted.

melchizedek74 pointed out the Android Central story about an Indiegogo campaign for an Android 4.4-powered wireless router called Soap. The router works with an Android app to allow easier administration of the router and the devices connected to it. It can also replace hubs needed for home automation devices. Multiple Soap routers can also form a mesh network. The early bird price is $129 for the entry-level model on up to $229 for the top-end.

Inge_Aning submitted the Verge story that US Senators Patrick Leahy and Doris Matsui are proposing a bill that would requite the FCC to use its authority to prevent paid prioritization of Internet content by ISPs. The Online Competition and Consumer Choice Act would not solve the FCC’s problem over how to justify its authority to enforce such requirements. 

metalfreak submitted the Verge article that DARPA is developing anonymity tools to supplement and replace Tor as part of the Safer Warfighter Communications program. One project in particular called Service-Oriented Netcoded Architecture for Tactical Anonymity (SONATA), is decribed as a next-generation Tor. SONATA traffic is “mixed” at each relay in the network by randomly multiplying traditional packets by a constant and adding them together, while also switching up secondary markers that would identify traffic. DARPA is also investing in Cruveball a decoy routing system.

Discussion Section Links: Hey, YouTube, what’s a BLOCK?

http://www.theverge.com/2014/6/17/5817408/youtube-reportedly-block-videos-indie-artists

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ea6728e2-f568-11e3-afd3-00144feabdc0.html

http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/06/artists-who-dont-sign-with-youtubes-new-subscription-service-to-be-blocked/

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/c7b69d06-ebc1-11e3-ab1b-00144feabdc0.html#axzz34vDHuDTv

Pick of the day: InoReader via Sam from sometimes beautiful NJ

When Google Reader left the cloud for the great RSS reader in the sky, I tried many of the replacement options, but only felt comfortable with InoReader. It uses the same API, so many of the third-party tools work out of the box. The developers are active and responsive to bug reports and community suggestions. I’m addition, they introduced some new and interesting features like rules (similar to email filters) and PDF generation from articles (e.g. for printing or archival).Sam from sometimes beautiful NJ

Wednesday’s Guest: Rene Ritchie, of imore.com 

Mike Schramm joins us to settle once and for all who won E3. Because it’s a game. Also, self-driving Dutch trucks and what Amazon’s really up to.

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 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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes
Today’s guest:  Mike Schramm, manager of qualitative insights at EEDAR

Headlines

You’re a drag, DOT: The New York Times reports the U.S. Department of Transportation seeks explicit authority from the U.S. Congress to regulate driving navigation aids, including apps on smartphones. The president’s proposed transportation bill includes a provision to give the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration the authority to set restrictions on apps and order changes if they are deemed dangerous. Software makers say the rules would be unenforceable and a drag on innovation. 

It’s a marathon, not a sprint: TechCrunch passes along that Amazon announced it now has more than 240,000 apps in the Amazon App store, available in almost 200 countries. As a comparison, both Apple and Google have reported around 1.2 million apps in their stores. Amazon touted an IDC study, funded by Amazon, that developers make as much money or more on Kindle Fire than any other platform.

Blackberry ups its game: The Next Web reports BlackBerry announced BBM Protected, bringing enhanced messaging security to its enterprise customers. Business users with BlackBerry Device Software 6.0 or newer on BES 5 and some customers with BlackBerry 10 smartphones with gold licenses on BES10 can start using the new feature from today. The extra layer of encryption means BBM Protected users can only send messages to other users of BBM Protected if they want the message protected.

Get learnin’, machines: BloombergBusinessWeek has the story of Microsoft introducing a new data analysis service that predicts behavior. The machine-learning service lets users build algorithms to predict things like purchasing patterns and electricity usage. Azure Machine Learning can then host the results on the Web through Microsoft Azure’s cloud service. Microsoft believes the service could speed up work for data scientists, but also benefit non-mathematicians as well. Microsoft will offer a public preview of the service, which was code-named Project Passau, in July.

Next up, self-pedaling bikes! Reuters reports a group of companies in the Netherlands hope to have self-driving trucks making deliveries from Rotterdam to other Dutch cities within the next five years. Initial testing would start on computer simulations and the trucks will be tested on a closed track before ultimately driving out on public roads. The proposal is backed by Transport and Logistics Netherlands, DAF Trucks, Rotterdam Port and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research.

Faster, faster! GigaOm reports The European Commission has revealed an agreement with South Korea to “work towards a global definition of 5G” and share spectrum and standards. The two governments will work together on cloud and Internet-of-things research as well. China’s Huawei, Japan’s NTT Docomo, the U.S.’s Intel are all independently working on 5G.

News From You

spsheridan sent the science alert story about an artificial pancreas controlled by a smartphone to help regulate blood glucose levels. Clinical Trials showed it worked better at regulating glucose levels than fingerstick tests or manually injected insulin. A team from Boston University developed the system which uses a removable sensor inserted under the skin to beam real time glucose levels to a smartphone. The app calculates what’s needed to balance blood sugar and sends a signal to an implanted pump. Patients can even input what they’re eating so the app knows what to expect.

KAPT_Kipper posted the TorrentFreak article that Automattic, proprietors of WordPress are seeking $10,000 plus $14,250 in attorney’s fees for alleged abuse of copyright takedown notices. Oliver Hotham wrote an article on his WordPress blog last November about “Straight Pride Uk.” including a quote from the organization’s press officer, Nick Steiner. Steiner sent a copyright takedown notice to WordPress alleging Hotham had violated his copyright. Hotham and Automattic, claim the quote was fair use and did not violate copyright and therefore Steiner’s takedown notice, which did result in the post being removed, was an abuse of the system.

metalfreak posted the Ars Technica article that a list of Microsoft patents that apply to Android has been published on the Chinese language version of the Ministry of Commerce website. The list was compiled apparently as a result of the government’s antitrust review of Microsoft’s purchase of Nokia. The list is part of a page regarding the conditions related to approval of the merger. The English-language version of the page does not include the list of patents. 

spsheridan pointed out the BBC story that the US government is lifting restrictions on satellite images. Up until now, services like Bing Maps could not use images where features smaller than 50 cm were visible. That restriction has been lowered to 31 cm. A company called Digital Globe applied to the US Department of Commerce asking for restrictions to be lifted. The company’s Worldview-3 satellite is due to launch in August.

And metalfreak posted the Ars Technica story that a Bitcoin mining contributor known as GHash has been topping 51 percent of Bitcoin’s total cryptographic hashing output for a span of 12 hours on June 12. Any one entity processing more than 50% can be troublesome to the decentralized nature of the system. A miner with more than 50% could theoretically spend the same coins twice, reject competing miners’ transactions, or extort higher fees from people with large holdings. Researchers from Cornell University detected the peak and have recommended a hard Bitcoin Fork.

Discussion Section Links: 

http://www.gamepur.com/news/15105-sony-vs-microsoft-vs-nintendo-e3-2014-comparison-time-spend-showing-games-e.html

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/sony-nintendo-and-microsoft-which-company-won-e3-2014/1100-6420499/

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/why-sony-won-e3-2014/1100-6420501/

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/why-nintendo-won-e3-2014/1100-6420391/

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/why-microsoft-won-e3-2014/1100-6420502/

http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/15/i-hath-seen-the-future-of-videogames/

http://o.canada.com/technology/gaming/microsofts-xbox-one-wins-e3-2014-with-renewed-focus-on-games

Pick of the day: Seat Guru via Loren Ahrens

In episode 2256 you mentioned travel apps, which reminded me of Seat Guru. It’s available online and through the app stores. I travel 35+ weeks a year to different locations so sticking with a single airline is impossible. When I’m not sure of the seat layout on an airline, or when I have someone new join the team, I suggest and use Seat Guru to help book the best seat available. My travel tip – The exit rows have additional room and the back row of most airlines overwing exits recline, unlike the forward row. Choose wisely my friend.

Tuesday’s Guests: Molly Wood columnist for the New York Times & Patrick Beja of Le Rendez-vous Tech

Eric Olander is on to chat about Huawei, Xiaomi, and the coming disruption in smartphones that has Samsung and Apple in its sites. Also how Microsoft is fighting the US government.

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 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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes
Today’s guests:  Eric Olander co-host of the weekly China in Africa podcast

Headlines

The Verge reports Samsung announced two new tablets Thursday, an 8.4-inch and 10.5-inch Galaxy Tab S. The tablets are similar to the Tab Pro and Tab 4 lines but thinner at 6.6mm and sporting Super AMOLED screens. Samsung emphasized the screens not only have 2560 x 1600 resolution but a wider color range for more natural colors. Both devices will be available beginning July 4 in Europe, and sometime in July in the US. The 16GB 8.4-inch WiFi-only tablet will run €399/$399/£349 and the 10.5-inch version €499/$499/£449. Models with LTE will follow and run about €100 more.

Forbes reports Google plans to launch a health service called Google Fit, which would aggregate data from popular fitness trackers and apps. Similar to Apple’s Healthkit, the service would use an open API to allow apps to share information with the new Google Fit ecosystem. Forbes sources say the service will launch at Google I/O June 25-26. 

The Verge reports Apple announced a replacement program for European iPhone adapters sold between October 2009 and September 2012. The adapter is at risk of overheating. The affected adapter, Model A1300, was packaged in with European sales of the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and iPhone 4S, and was also sold separately. Customers should book an appointment at an Apple store or authorized service provider, or contact Apple Technical Support to make the exchange.

CNET reports Facebook has updated its Messenger app for iOS and Android. Version 6.0 includes the ability to record and send video clips without leaving the app, though there’s a limit of 15 seconds. Another new feature lets you press and hold the like button longer to register a “Big Like”. 

PC World reports AT&T has joined Verizon in filing a friend of the court brief in support of Microsoft’s resistance to hand over email from a server in Dublin, Ireland, to a US Government investigation. Microsoft argues the investigators should get an Irish judge to issue the order through the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty or MLAT process. The US argues the location of the company, in this case Microsoft, is what matters, not the location of the server. AT&T wrote “this practice rests on an understanding that when it comes to data storage and privacy protections, location matters.” And warned that if the US ignores MLAT, then other countries might too and take data from US servers. 

News From You

HobbitfromPA got a good number of upvotes on the Ars Technica story that Jonathan Daniel, the man who parodied Peoria Illinois mayor on Twitter is suing Peoria’s mayor and police for violating his civil rights. Daniel created a parody account called @peoriamayor using a picture of mayor Jim Ardis. In response Peoria’s mayor got Twitter to shut down the account, but also threatened to prosecute Daniel for impersonating a public official, and had police raid search and seize property. No charges of impersonation were filed, although police did charge Daniel’s roommate with felony possession of marijuana.

metalfreak posted the Network World story that Google has started an open-source project called PDFium to create a PDF software library which developers can incorporate into apps on a variety of platforms. Google intends to replace its current closed-source PDF reader with the project. The rendering engine for the project was developed by Foxit, a long-time maker of PDF-reading software. The code will carry a BSD-3 clause software license.

KAPT_Kipper posted the Ars Technica story that IPv4 addresses have just about run out from all major registries. Asia’s APNIC, Europe’s RIPE NCC and Latin America’s LACNIC will only allow operators to get one more block of 1024 addresses and then that’s it. ARIN, the North America registry just reached it’s last phase in April, so it’s still letting ISPs come back for more for now. Only Africa’s AfriNIC is continuing to supply IPv4 addresses as needed. So IPv6. You’re up.

spsheridan posted the CNET story that the US Marshals Service announced Thursday  will auction nearly 30,000 bitcoins seized from Silk Road last October. The auction will take place June 27. Interested bidders mist register by June 23 and make a $200,000 wire transfer to a government bank to hold their place. The US Marshals Service will carry out the auction by selling nine blocks of 3,000 bitcoins and a tenth block of 2,657 bitcoins.

And KAPT_Kipper pointed out the BBC story that Xbox One owners complain a new TV ad featuring Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul messes with their Xbox. In the ad for the Xbox One, Paul says “XZbox On” which apparently activates some Xbox One’s voice command interface turning the console on. 

Discussion Section Links: Huawei

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/06/13/huawei-renews-focus-on-europe/?mod=rss_Technology

http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/12/huawei-launches-an-online-store-to-sell-its-own-unlocked-phones/

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-06/huawei-says-it-can-beat-xiaomi-in-race-to-be-chinas-top-smartphone-brand

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-04/chinas-xiaomi-the-worlds-fastest-growing-phone-maker

http://www.cnet.com/pictures/xiaomi-mi3s-brings-style-to-android-pictures/

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/05/28/biden-name-one-innovative-product-from-china/

Pick of the day: Tripit & FlightAware via Tom 

Monday’s Guest:  Mike Schramm

Patrick Beja joins the show to talk about just how open Tesla’s ‘open source’ patents could be, plus news about Facebook and your privacy, Google investing in Virgin Galactic and a cup that sense what you’re drinking.

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 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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guests:  Patrick Beja, host of Le rendez-vous Tech

Headlines

PC World reports Facebook is making changes to how ads work. One change will put blue arrows by ads in the news feed. When you click a blue arrow it lets you see which of your preferences caused an ad to appear and allows you to tweak those preferences so more relevant ads will show up. IN a somewhat less privacy-friendly maneuver, Facebook also announced it will now track your Web and app activity and will not respect Do Not Track settings. Users can opt out at the Digital Advertising Alliance opt-out page at http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ or use settings in iOS and Android.Or block cookies. Or don’t use Facebook.

BloombergBusinessWeek reports Intel’s appeal against a 2009 fine of €1.06 billion was rejected in its entirety by the EU’s general court. Intel was found to have broken antitrust laws in Europe by giving rebates to manufacturers who chose Intel chips over AMD. 

CNET reports on an Yves Behar designed smart cup called Vessyl from a San Francisco startup called Mark One. The thermos-like cup is covered in sensors and can detect and track what you drink and how much of it. Sensors track amount of caffeine, sugar, calories, and a proprietary hydration metric called Pryme. Mark One will sell the Vessyl through its website at a pre-order price of $99. If the company raises $50,000 the cup will retail for $199.

Elon Musk wrote on the Tesla blog today that the electric car company will “not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.” The idea is to encourage competing carmakers to get into the business of making electric cars and accelerate their development and growth.

Sky News reports Google is in talks with Virgin Galactic for deal that would give Google a stake in the company and some technological assistance in its plans to launch satellites to provide wireless Internet. Virgin Galactic would get cash. While the deal is not final, Sky news sources estimate Google might invest $30 million and come away with a 1.5% stake.

News From You

Our top story on the subreddit came from melchizedek74. The Verge reports on Amazon following through from yesterday’s rumor and launching Prime Music a free streaming music service fro subscribers to Amazon Prime. Ad-free access to a million songs now comes along with free shipping, video streaming and ebook lending. Prime Music features curated playlists and forthcoming apps for Kindle Fire, iOS, Android, PC and Mac. The service will not have new releases, or popular songs from Universal Music.

tekkyn00b pointed out the Verge report that Starbucks plans to install Powermat wireless charging stations in table in its coffee stores in the US, starting in the San Francisco area. Most phones have Qi built in, but powermat cases are available for popular phones like the Galaxy and iPhone and a receiver “ring” will be available inexpensively to fit most cell phones. We don’t know if the rings will be sold by Starbucks.

tekkyn00b also submitted the Verge article that a US Appellate Court for the 11th Circuit has ruled that police must obtain a warrant before collecting cellphone location data. The court determined cell tower connections constitute a Fourth Ammendment issue. This ruling contradicts a ruling made in a different circuit almost a year ago. 

And Hurmoth submitted Jon Brodkin’s Ars Technica article explaining why Netflix’s performance on Verizon has not improved as fast after striking an interconnect deal as Comcast’s did. The article is worth the read if you really want to understand, but essentially, Netflix and Comcast started working on the Interconnection long before their deal was signed. Verizon and Netflix started working on their interconnection once the two companies had an agreement. Rollout begins in ernest next month and will continue through the 4th quarter.

Discussion Section Links: All our patents are belong to you

http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/all-our-patent-are-belong-you

http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/09/tesla-wants-to-open-its-supercharger-standard-to-other-electric-car-makers/

http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/17/twitter-announces-innovators-patent-agreement-gives-ip-control-to-engineers-and-designers/

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/06/new-study-suggests-patent-trolls-really-are-killing-startups/

Pick of the day: Newsblur via SkyJedi

Since Feedly is being buried under a sea of Ddos Trollery, I’ll share my RSS solution: Newsblur. It has free and premium sides, iOS and Android apps. Import your feeds from any service. They also have sharing, and all the other bells and whistles of a modern day RSS reader.

Friday’s Guest:  Eric Olander co-host of the weekly China in Africa podcast

Peter Wells joins the show to talk about the TweetDeck XSS attack, DDoS attacks agains Evernote and Feedly, and why the Internet seems to be falling apart lately.

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 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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guests:  Peter Wells, editor of Reckoner, Australia

Headlines

The Internet was shaken today when Tweetdeck users everywhere began retweeting javascript code most ofen involving a heart symbol. It was not love they were spreading, but a cross-site scripting attack. It also manifested as popups with avrious messages like yo and XSS in Tweetdeck. Twitter fixed the vulnerability but then shut down Tweetdeck services for an hour to confirm the fix. It affected users of Tweetdeck in Chrome and reportedly users of the Windows app. Hat tip to melchizedek74 who submitted this on the subreddit.

The Washington Post reports Microsoft is contesting a search warrant issued by a judge in New York compelling the company to turn over customer data stored in a server located overseas. The emails in question are on a server in Ireland and connected to a drug-trafficking investigation. Verizon filed a friend of the court brief supporting Microsoft. Microsoft believes US investigators should file the request with an Irish district court judge. The US government believes the location of the records is irrelevant, only the location of the company matters.

Reuters reports Taxi drivers slowed traffic in London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid and Barcelona in protest against Uber, a US company that allows users to summon cars for rides via an app. Taxi drivers across Europe say Uber breaks local taxi rules, violates licensing and safety regulations and its drivers fail to comply with local insurance rules. Uber says its drivers comply with all local regulations.

TechCrunch reports Pinterest launched “Guided Search” on its mobile apps which surfaces related terms at the top of the screen as enter a keyword in the search box. The search bar is also much more prominent on the site now. The change is rolling out to English-speaking users over the next few weeks with more languages to follow.

CNET reports the $25 Firefox Phone is coming to India. Intex and Spice, will build Firefox OS phones based on a processor from Chinese company Spreadtrum and sell them for around Rs 1,500 in the next few months. Mozilla also announced Chunghwa Telecom, the largest mobile network operator in Taiwan, has signed up with Firefox OS. ZTE’s Open II and Alcatel’s One Touch Fire E are still scheduled to go on sale this summer.

TechCrunch reports Parrot, the popularizer of the quadcopter drone has some price and release dates for its latest creations shown off at CES earlier this year. The Jumping Sumo, which rolls around on the ground on two wheels, squeeze through small places, and well, jump has a 20 minute battery life and will be available in August for $160. The Rolling Spider is a quadcopter that can also work with two optional wheel attachments allowing it to scale walls and ceilings with an 8 minute battery life. Yeah. . It will arrive in August for $100. As a sidenote the US FAA approved the first drone for commercial use Tuesday. AeroVironment will fly unmanned Puma aircrafts over Prudhoe Bay in Alaska to survey oil pipelines, roads, and equipment for BP.

News From You

KAPT_Kipper has our top story on the subreddit, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports Comcast has turned on the first 50,000 of its residential hotspots in Houston, to use WiFi routers in homes to provide wider WiFi service for Comcast customers. The routers separate access from the home users network and offer it with the SSID xfinitywifi. Comcast says it shouldn’t impact home service since public hotspot users are provided through a separate channel on the modem called a “service flow.” Controversially the service is turned on by default without the subscriber’s consent. Customers have to log into their Comcast account and turn the service off themselves. 

metalfreak pointed out the TechGage post about Civilization V coming to Linux via Steam OS. It’s also on sale to boot. That addition helped the number of unique Linux titles at Steam to pass the 500 landmark. Currently, TechGage counts 516 Steam games available for Linux.

spsheridan posted the Ars Technica story that US FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler wrote a blog post titled “Removing Barriers to Competitive Community Broadband” shortly after meeting with Mayor Andy Berke of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Wheeler wrote, I believe that it is in the best interests of consumers and competition that the FCC exercises its power to preempt state laws that ban or restrict competition from community broadband.” Wheeler has said similar things before but the FCC has no stated plans to act on the statements.

And supey777 pointed out the Sydney Morning Herald article that ISP iiNet’s regulatory officer Steve Dalby is encouraging customers to write letters expressing opposition to the government’s piracy crackdown. Attorney-General George Brandis made statements that he was considering a scheme of piracy notices and requiring blocks for certain websites. Mr. Dalby believes the graduated response proposal would incur costs with ISPs and have no effect. 

Discussion Section Links: 

http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/11/tweetdeck-fixes-xss-vulnerability/

http://hiddentext.wordpress.com/2014/06/11/xss-and-tweetdeck-and-the-person-behind-the-discovery/

http://www.theverge.com/2014/6/11/5800370/tweetdeck-vulnerability-lets-attackers-execute-code-remotely

http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00002167.html

http://dc406.com/component/content/article/643-tweetdeck-chrome-extension-xss-vulnerability.html

http://www.electronista.com/articles/14/06/11/evernote.recovers.from.multi.hour.ddos.attack.feedly.continues.to.suffer/

http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/11/feedly-evernote-and-others-become-latest-victims-of-ddos-attacks/

http://www.scmagazine.com/online-gambling-site-hit-by-five-vector-ddos-attack-peaking-at-100gbps/article/355020/

http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/04/meetups-multi-day-outage-was-due-to-a-newer-more-powerful-type-of-ddos-attack/

http://www.digitalattackmap.com/#anim=1&color=0&country=ALL&time=16232&view=map

http://www.theverge.com/2014/6/11/5800634/p-f-changs-investigating-possible-credit-card-hack

Pick of the day:  Bialetti.com  via Peter Wells

Thursday’s Guest:  Patrick Beja of L’Ordre du français philosophes Technologie 

And just because, here’s the full text of the email we got defending the future of Steam…very well written!

“Hey Tom!  Travis from Quaint Bristol Tennessee.