Allison Sheridan Sheridan is on the show and we’ll talk about Netflix’s error message spat with Verizon and Google’s new end-to-end email encryption scheme.

MP3

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

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

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

Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the 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: Allison Sheridan, Allison Sheridan, host of NosillaCast at podfeet.com

Headlines:

Our top story on the subreddit was submitted by davidpolanco today. The New York Time reports   Google released source code Tuesday for a Chrome extension called “End to End” that would provide OpenPGP encryption for messages within a browser. In other words, end to end encryption for Gmail users. Google wants developers to look for security vulnerabilities before the extension is released for wide use. Google will pay for any bugs found through its Vulnerability Reward program. Google already encrypts Web traffic to its Gmail product but that only works if the recipients provider also encrypts. Google released a report showing that 40-50 percent of email did not end up encrypted at the other end. Comcast was one of the worst with only 1% of its email ending up encrypted. Comcast told the Wall Street Journal its working on an encryption program for its customers that it hopes to roll out within weeks. 

Ars Technica reports that Microsoft has announced dozens of social and media apps will come to the XBox One as part of the next update. Among the apps announced for US users are HBO Go, Twitter, several cable TV network apps. All of these apps will be available without an Xbox Live paid account, as will existing apps like Netflix. Microsoft did not announce when the update will arrive but the company will have their E3 announcement in just 5 days. 

The BBC reports authorities in the Central African Republic have banned the use of SMS text messaging in the country as an emergency measure. Demonstrations have been taking place in the capital, Bangui, and a mass text campaign called for a general strike. Mobile phone users in CAR now get a message in French saying “SMS not allowed”. A government source told AFP the suspension might only last a few days.

The Washington Post reports The US Secret Service posted a work order Monday for software that can detect sarcasm in social media. The order also wants the software to synthesize large sets of data and present it visually. And it must be compatible with IE8. So if you think you can identify influencers in real time on a heat map and detect when posts are being sarcastic, and root out false positives, just submit your proposal by tomorrow, June 9 at 5 PM. I’m sure that’s plenty of time.

The Next Web reports LinkedIn revamped its premium accounts so paying members can choose a custom background, larger photo, and expanded header. Premium users also get keyword suggestions and receive emphasis in search. Paying members also get a full 90-day list of who viewed their profile and how they rank against first-degree connections. A new premium starter package including the new features will cost $10 a month.

The waterproof Sony Smartband is finally coming to secondary markets like the US and UK for $99 and £80 respectively. The band counts steps and tracks sleep activity but also notes weather and vibrates for incoming text messages and phone calls. Sony released the band in Europe earlier this year for 99 Euros.

News From You

KAPT_Kipper submitted the Verge story that Vox Media designer Yuri Victor noted a new error message on Netflix last night when the service hit a bandwidth snag. It read, “The Verizon network is crowded right now.” Netflix’s Jonathan Friedland confirmed that the company is testing the phrasing for its messages. Verizon responded that the message deliberately misleads customers.  

spsheridan posted a Reuters story about China’s People’s Daily stating on its blog that companies such as Yahoo, Cisco, Microsoft and Facebook should be punished as pawns of the US Government. The post referred to the companies involvement in the PRISM spying program leaked by Edward Snowden and published June 6 last year. The English-language China Daily echoed the sentiments. 

dwsoulsby submitted the TechRadar story about Intel’s goal to make computing wire free by 2016. Intel’s SVP of Computing Kirk Skaugen said it would do so using an upcoming CPU reference design codenamed Skylake – which will succeed Broadwell – that uses the company’s WiGig tech (rather than cables) to carry and display data signals. WiGig can send data at 7Gbps over short distances, making it candidate to replace HDMI, USB, DisplayPort and other short distance wires. Skaugen also said the company is looking at integrating wireless charging.

TheLinuxNinja pointed out the Wires article about a program created by Berlin artist Julian Oliver called Glasshole.sh. It detects any Google Glass device attempting to connect to a WiFi network by MAC Address. It then ses the program Aircrack-NG to impersonate the network and send a “deauthorization” command, cutting the headset’s Wi-Fi connection. Oliver has only tested the device on his own studio’s network. 

Discussion Section Links: 

http://www.cnet.com/news/netflix-takes-aim-at-verizon-over-slow-data-speeds/#ftag=CAD590a51e

http://www.theverge.com/2014/6/4/5780006/verizon-slams-netflix-pr-stunt-that-told-users-their-isps-were

http://publicpolicy.verizon.com/blog/entry/shifting-blame

http://ispspeedindex.netflix.com/

http://ispspeedindex.netflix.com/usa

https://twitter.com/yurivictor/status/473978204852453376

https://twitter.com/jsf33/status/473992321394954241

http://gigaom.com/2014/06/04/isp-to-netflix-please-come-to-hong-kong/

http://reg.hkbn.net/WwwCMS/upload/pdf/en/140604%20Letter%20to%20Netflix%20Signed%20Scanned%20Copy.pdf

Pick of the day:   Air Droid via Kevin Kipp

After hearing you talking about device management and wireless file transfers coming soon to Apple’s ecosystem (WWDC 2014), I thought I’d suggest AirDroid as a pick of the day. It allows you to send and receive SMS via your phone, manage contacts, clipboard content, files, media and apps, locate your phone, stream video from your phone’s camera(s) or stream the screen of your device all through a web interface.

As long as your phone (can be wireless via wifi) is on the same network as your computer (connection here can be wired or wireless), they can link up making this great for using it anywhere. You just pull up the easy to remember URL (web.airdroid.com), scan a QR code on the screen, and you’re connected.

It’s great at home, the office, or even at a friend’s computer for quick direct file transfers.

Schedule for live streams of Phoenix ComicCon via Alpha Geek Radio available here:  http://bit.ly/AGRPhoenix

Thursday’s Guest: Veronica Belmont, of the internet

Lamarr Wilson is back and we’ll talk about hot new hardware coming out of Computex. An Intel Core processor with full Windows in a tablet thinner than an iPad Air? 4K Laptop? Check. A 5-way laptop/tablet/phone running Android and Windows? Not kidding.

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: Lamarr Wilson, host of Mashable’s YouTube Weekly and Socially Awkward

Headlines:

More chips! Less power! You want new hardware? Intel’s trying to catch your eye at Computex. PC World reports Intel showed off the new Core M line of processors that draws less than 10 watts of power, making possible a 7.2-mm thick tablet with 8 hours of battery life. The tablet is Intel’s “Llama Mountain” reference design, that manufacturers can you use as a jumping off point for their own tablets. Still, a thin Windows 8.1 Pro tablet that has 8 hours of battery life and docks with a light keyboard to become a laptop looks appealing to some folks. Asus has already said they’ll ship Transformer Hybrids with the chip later this year.

Where’s that soft focus tool? The Next Web reports on the rollout of Instagram version 6 to iOS and Android devices. Now, when you select a filter on your photo, you’ll see a wrench icon to give you access to a suite of editing tools. Among the new features are color adjustment, sharpen and the ability to adjust filter strength. 

That Glass goes great with your top: Glass Almanac are among the folks reporting on Google’s announcement of Diane von Furstenberg-designed Google Glass. DVF|Made for Glass includes five new frames and eight new shades to convert you from GLASS-hole to GLASS-sionista! The collection will be available June 23 for Glass Explorers. 

We don’t need to stinkin’ rules: Kickstarter has gone anarchist and ended all rules! Well, not quite. GigaOM tempers things with facts, but DOES report that the new rules make it more attractive for hardware makers who had been turning to Indiegogo and the like and their less restrictive policies. One major change is a new feature called “Launch Now” for qualifying projects to skip the wait for a community manager’s approval. About 60% of projects qualify right now and Kickstarter expects that to rise. The new simplified rules simply state the project must create something to be shared, be honest, and not raise money for charity, offer financial incentives or involve prohibited items.

OK,  who dropped “Fancy” in again? The Next Web reports Motorola announced Moto Stream, an accessory that can make any speaker a wireless Bluetooth speaker. Up to five connected devices can drop tracks into the speaker as long as they’re within 300 feet. It’s available today for $50 at Motorola.com.

The Zuck gets closer to the next 5 billion people: Reuters reports Facebook acquired Finnish company Pryte which provides a service allowing phone users without data plans to purchase data in small quantities meant to gain access to specific apps like Facebook itself. 

Back in action: Mashable reports Turkey’s telecommunications authority lifted a ban on YouTube Tuesday, four days after the Constitutional Court ruled that the ban violated Turks’ free speech rights. YouTube was blocked for a total of 67 days.

These aren’t the droids you’re looking for: GigaOm reports on the launch of a robotics research partnership between the European Commission and 180 private companies, called SPARC which will invest €2.8 billion. The European Commission believes SPARC will lead to the creation of over 240,000 European jobs and hopefully a lot of really friendly European robots.

Mobile wins the day: Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet reports that her sources say Microsoft’s Tiled Interface version of Microsoft Office, meant for tablets, won’t arrive until spring 2015 now, meaning Office for Android will arrive first, sometime before the end of 2014.

News From You

KAPT_Kipper sent in the CNET story about how John Oliver brought down the FCC. Sort of. Oliver spent 13 minutes on his show “Last Week Tonight” delivering an insightful description of Net Neutrality, capping it off by calling for all the trollish commenters of the Internet to “focus your indiscriminate rage in a useful direction” at fcc.gov/comments . Yesterday the FCC’s comment system buckled yesterday afternoon under the pressure of that rage suddenly being focused on one point. It seems to have recovered— for now.

metalfreak posted the Ars Technica article about the release of a 64-bit version of Chrome announced on the Chromium blog. Google claims the new version brings 25% performance improvement in graphics and multimedia. Google also claims improvement in security and stability. 64-bit Chrome is currently available for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 in the developer and canary channels. 

And Splendor78 pointed out the Washington Post article about Suzi Levine becoming the first US Ambassador to take the oath over a Kindle e-reader displaying the US Constitution. This continues a trend. New Jersey firefighters were sworn in on an iPad edition of the Bible in February. 

Discussion Section Links: Hardware Delight!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/sharifsakr/2014/06/03/computex-2014-roundup/

http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/02/asus-gx500/?ncid=rss_truncated

http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/02/asus-steam-machines/?ncid=rss_truncated

http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/03/intel-llama-mountain-prototype/?ncid=rss_truncated

http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/02/intel-bets-on-surface-pro-3-like-2-in-1-devices/

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/06/intel-shows-off-fanless-broadwell-tablet-thinner-than-the-ipad-air/

http://9to5google.com/2014/06/02/asus-announces-transformer-book-v-androidwindows-3-in-1-new-fonepad-memo-tablets/

Pick of the day:  Audible.com via Brian in Houston

Audible is my pick of the day. I started with a book called The Moon is a Harsh Mistress a few years ago when I heard it mentioned on a podcast by Tom. I have discovered a ton of great content including the Dresden Files series and several biographies that are made so much better when read by the author. My library now includes hundreds of books and with the cost per book being less than $10 when you do the highest tier membership it’s a great deal.

Thanks Tom for introducing me to Audible, it has made the daily commute, workouts at the gym, and walking the dogs daily much more enjoyable.

Schedule for live streams of Phoenix ComicCon via Alpha Geek Radio available here:  http://bit.ly/AGRPhoenix

Wednesday’s Guest: Allison Sheridan, Allison Sheridan, host of NosillaCast at podfeet.com

Iyaz Akhtar joins the show to talk about the hot new phone at the developers conference this week. Tizen! Oh and yes we will also talk about the 1 million announcements from Apple’s WWDC.

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: Iyaz Akhtar, senior associate editor, CNET.com and host of many podcasts on the GFQ Network

Headlines:

That new hardware we’ve been waiting for has finally been announced by the world’s leading smartphone maker at its developer conference! Samsung launched the world’s first smartphone powered by the Tizen operating system!! The Samsung Z. Samsung also uses Tizen in its Galaxy Gear 2 smatwatch and released a developers kit for Tizen-based TVs. The Z goes on sale in Russia sometime between July and September.

The BBC reports The United States has charged a Russian man named Evgeniy Bogachev of being involved in a cybercrime attack affecting more than 1 million computers. Authorities have seized control of a botnet used to steal personal and financial data, though they believe its operators may regain control in about two weeks. Bogachev is said to go under the names lucky12345 and slavik, and is thought to have last resided in Anapa, Russia. Charges filed in a court in Pittsburgh include conspiracy, wire, bank and computer fraud, and money laundering.

Apple announced new features for its main operating systems, OS X and iOS, at its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. The next version of OS X will be called Yosemite and include a new design similar to iOS7 plus several new features including adding online search to spotlight, airdop compatibility with iOS devices and the ability to answer phone calls and send and receive non-iOS text messages from the desktop. iOS8 will get many new features including support for replacement keyboards, platforms for health info called HealthKit, and home automation called HomeKit and a new programming language called Swift. Siri gets shazam integration as well as an always on mode that can be activated by saying, “Hey Siri.” And iCloud Drive now is integrated into finder, works across devices, and gets a price cut to 99 cents a month for 20 GB and $4 a month for 200 GB. OS X Yosemite is available to developers at WWDC today, will go into open beta in the summer and come to all for free in the Fall. iOS8 is available to developers at WWDC today and will come to all in the fall. 

You Start Menu fans may have to wait a bit longer for its triumphant return. ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley says a change in plans may delay the menu from returning in Windows 8.1 Update 2, expected to arrive in August. Looks liek the Menu will wait until the release of Threshold expected in April 2015. Microsoft’s Terry Myerson showed off the new start menu at the Build conference in April, but did not promise when it would arrive.

News From You

AllanAV posted the Ars Technica story about a patent troll being ordered to pay court costs, the first case of fee shifting since the Supreme Court mandated such fees be paid in exceptional cases.  A Santa Barbara startup called “FindTheBest” spent $200,000 defending itself in a case brought by Lumen View which demanded a$50,000 licensing fee. The judge found that LumenView was trying to extract a nuisance settlement. US District Judge Denise Cote wrote, “The question of whether this case is exceptional is not close, and fee shifting in this case will serve as an instrument of justice.”

tm204 posted the 9to5Google story that Asus announced a slate of new Android tablets at Computex including a lineup for the MeMO Pad Series, a next-gen FonePad and a tablet/laptop/smartphone hybrid Transformer Book V that runs Windows and Android. That last one has 12.5-inch display with a up to a TB of storage. Asus says it’s, “the world’s first five-mode, three-in-one covered laptop that features a Windows and Android laptop and tablet as well as an Android smartphone.” No price or release dates on nay of the new products.

KAPT_Kipper sent in the GigaOm story indicating that sources told the Wall Street Journal and Space News that Google intends to spend around $1 billion to launch 180 small satellites into space in order to provide global Internet service. Greg Wyler of O3b networks has apparently joined Google and started a company called L5 or WorldVu. That company supposedly has access to the Ku-band spectrum abandoned by SkyBridge. What the service would be and how much it would cost is unknown.

metalfreak noted the GreatFire.org version of a story also reported by Reuters that Google services are being disrupted in China. GreatFire reports the blocks started four days ago and now extend to all Google services. Greatfire also suggests IP addresses that can be used to evade the block. This week marks the 25th anniversary of events in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. 

Plug of the day: Today’s plug is for a terrific weekly podcast called 8-Bit Life, in which host Roberto Villegas talks in depth with an eclectic mix of guests from the online universe. This week Roberto’s guest is someone you may have heard me mention on this show once or twice; our own producer Jennie Josephson, who has something to say about how this whole show got its start.

Discussion Section Links: WWDC Day One

http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/22/os-x-beta-seed-program/

http://www.apple.com/osx/preview/

Pick of the day:  Six Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman, via Russell Manthy:

Had a book recommendation that might be of interest to the listeners. Six Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman. This a compilation of six lectures on the basics of physics by one of this century’s most brilliant minds. The lectures were given to the freshman class at Cal Tech in the early sixties and were designed to give a general overview of the principles of physics including basics concepts, relation of physics to other sciences, the theory of gravitation and quantum behavior. These are elementary lectures (no math required) and give a tremendous insight into the basics in Feynman’s colorful and humorous style using simple explanations and interesting anecdotes and metaphors. Although these are older they cover things that have not really changed in the intervening years. The Audible version of the book is actual recordings of the lectures; it is great to hear them as presented by Feynman himself.”

Tuesday’s Guest:  Lamarr Wilson, host of Mashable’s YouTube Weekly and Socially Awkward