Justin Robert Young, Darren Kitchen and Len Peralta fill in for Tom on vacation and talk about Apple Security.

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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 hosts: Justin Robert Young, Darren Kitchen and Len Peralta!

Buy Len’s great artprov “The Jawcracker” as drawn live on DTNS!  http://lenperaltastore.com/products/jawcracker-print

Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke to the Wall Street Journal today, promising additional steps to keep hackers out of user accounts, but said that none of the Apple ID’s and passwords obtained in the recent celebrity iCloud leaks were taken from the company’s servers. Cook said hackers obtained the nude photos of more than 100 women by either correctly guessing security questions to obtain passwords, or by obtaining the data from a phishing scam. Apple will launch new security measures in two weeks, alerting users via email and push notifications when someone tries to change an account password, restore iCloud data to a new device, or when a device logs into an account for the first time. Apple will also begin encouragin users to turn on two-factor authentication, and overall pay more attention to account security. We talk about this and more in a few with Darren.

Gigaom has the roundup of Thursday’s Motorola event in Chicago, where the company unveiled updated versions of its Moto X and Moto G smartphones and revealed its new Android Wear smartwatch, the Moto 360. As expected, the round smart watch was the star of the party. The Moto 360 pairs with any smartphone running Google Android 4.3 or above using Bluetooth and features wireless charging. Motorola says the wireless radio is powerful enough to allow a user to leave their paired phone several rooms away and still access apps on the watch. The 360 has a heart-rate monitor and pedometer and responds to touchscreen and Google Now voice commands. The watch weighs 1.72 ounces, features interchangeable bands, and costs $250 dollars. Oh also? it’s all sold out. But I’m pretty sure they’ll make some more.

We should probably tell you about those phones, too. The Moto X’s AMOLED screen grew from 4.7 inches to 5.2 inches, featuring full HD resolution. Motorola has contracted with a Chicago tannery called Horween (yeah, you heard me now let’s all say it together WHORE-WEEN) to custom-design leather back plates. The X will cost $100 WITH a contract from US carriers or $500 for the unlocked unsubsidized version. The Moto G, also got an ungrade to speaker, processor, camera and screen and will only be sold as an unsubsidized, unlocked phone for $180.

And one more Moto nugget to jab in your ear. The Verge reports that the company also unveiled a wireless earbud called The Hint, which is about the size of a peanut, and is intented to sit in your ear all day long. The hint has 3.3 hours of talk time, costs $149.99 dollars and will be available in the fall.

Reuters reports that an unknown hacker or hacker group broke into a test server supporting the US healthcare.gov site and uploaded malicious files. The first intrusion occurred on July 8th, when malware designed to launch a DDOS attack was uploaded. Healthcare officials told Congress no personal data was stolen.

Hoping to find DOTA 2 sharing the same schedule as Monday Night Football and SportsCenter? Don’t hold your breath. At Code/Media Series: New York, ESPN President John Skipper offered his opinion on eSports. “It’s not a sport — it’s a competition. Chess is a competition. Checkers is a competition, mostly I am interested in doing real sports.” In November of last year, Riot games claimed it had 8.2 Million concurrent TWITCH viewers for it’s League of Legends championship. Not to compare chip stacks, but ESPN reported a record 1.23 million total viewers for it’s live broadcast of the 2013 World Series of Poker final table.

Reuters reports that lawmakers in New Orleans have voted to allow online for-hire car companies like Uber to operate in the city. Under the new ordinance, Uber will be allowed to provide its Uber Black service, which enables passengers to connect with drivers of luxury cars via a smartphone app. The council did not vote on whether to authorize popular and less expensive ridesharing services like UberX and Lyft, which have been the focal point of legal challenges from taxi cab firms and regulators around the globe.

It’s that magic time, when all coffee is pumpkin coffee and the Full Corn Moon hangs heavy in the sky. It’s the silliest of seasons for Apple rumors in advance of their official announcement next week. So here are a few of the best. Brian X. Chen of the New York Times reports the new larger iPhones will have a one-handed mode that can be toggled on or off to make their large screens easier to use and furthermore, the rumored iWatch will be ANNOUNCED Tuesday but not available until 2015. What? You like your rumors more specious? How about this from SlashFilm editor Peter Sciretta who passed along a nugget on Twitter saying U2 ALLEGEDLY shot a commercial for an unnamed new Apple product in Ireland with legendary video director Mark Romanek. Or we can be boring and tell you the official announcement will be streamed to Safari Browsers and AppleTV’s at 1 pm ET / 10 am PT this Thursday September 9th LIVE from the Flint Center for the Performing Arts where near 30 years ago, Steve Jobs announced the original Macintosh.

News From You: 

metalfreak passes along a PC World report on a Chinese man who is suing one of the country’s state telecommunication firms for disrupting access to Google after the government started blocking the company’s services in May. Wang Long, a legal practitioner, sued China Unicom, demanding that the company provide an explanation, and refund his Internet broadband and mobile charges from the past five months. One Chinese state-run publication said this is the first time a local resident has sued a company for failing to provide access to Google.

PTrevethan shares a TechCrunch report about a new Google indoor mapping backpack, which is not at all ominously named The Cartographer. The backpack uses a process called “simultaneous localization and mapping” (SLAM), which allows the user automatically generated a floor plan in real time, while using a tablet to map ‘points of interest’.

And ancrod2 has a Gizmodo report about the latest in wearable technology. Hint: It’s not a watch. Researchers at Hong Kong Polytechnic have created Fabric Circuit Boards--that’s fabric woven out of a mixture of copper and elastic threads using computerized knitting technologies. The stretchy fabric is bulletproof which has great potential for people who get shot; it can also carry a current and communicate, which means that someday your shirt can tell you that its dirty, and your yoga pants can inform you that they are, indeed, see-through.

Plug of the Day:  The Sword and Laser Anthology collects 20 amazing stories from new writers in the Sword and Laser book club audience. 10 SciFi and 10 fantasy stories with an introduction by Patrick Rothfuss. Get a copy at swordandlaser.com/store

 

Pick of the Day:  “What If” by Randall Munroe via Preston

Preston in only OK Silly-con Valley has our pick of the day: “I just wanted to throw in a pick of the day for Randall Munroe’s new book “What if?“. Although I haven’t read it yet I have read all his entries at his site what-if.xkcd.com and really enjoyed them all. Randall tackles absurd hypothetical questions such as “What if there was a robot apocalypse? How long would humanity last?” and “Has humanity produced enough paint to cover the entire land area of the Earth?” using science, logic and humor. Ever wonder if you could lift yourself in the air with guns Yosemite Sam style? The answer is in here. (The answer is yes, but don’t try it at home.)

Monday’s guest hosts: Scott Johnson, Brian Ibbott and Justin Robert Young!

 

 

Justin Robert Young and Tom talk Rdio’s Free play.

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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 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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

The Washington Post reports that the US White House has named its next chief technology officer. Megan Smith is a Google executive who most recently ran the secretive Google X division. The Obama administration named as deputy U.S. CTO, Alexander Macgillivray, a former Twitter lawyer known as a staunch defender of the free flow of information online. The last US CTO Todd Park had his hands full with helping to salvage the US healthcare rollout; according to The Post, Smith is expected to refocus the position to a more forward-looking role.

Reuters reports Microsoft launched a new range of Lumia phones at IFA Thursday. The Lumia 735 has a 5-mpxl front-facing camera and a wide-angle lens for close-up photos of groups of friends. It’s the one you may some people call the Selfie Phone. The 735 will arrive globally this month for 219 euros. A 3G version called the 730 will run 199 euros and amore afforable flagship the Lumia 830 will sell for 330 Euros. The Verge adds MS also announced the next update to Lumia, called Denim, will include a “hey Cortana” commad to activate the voice assistant.

According to Gigaom, smart home monitoring company Nest is updating the software on its smoke detector, The Nest Protector, to include the ability to detect steam, thus avoiding false alarms in the middle of your shower. Other updates include a ten day data history, and additional carbon monoxide data. But no ‘wave-to-silence’ still isn’t back. That’s the feature that allowed user motion to silence the alarm,and unxepctedly worked in situations where it shouldn’t. That discovery led to a recall of 440,000 devices back in April. Nest has since removed the feature.

Businessweek reports that Google agreed to pay at least 19 million dollars to settle the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s claim that it wrongly billed consumers for unauthorized purchases in apps downloaded from the Google Play store. Google agreed to provide full refunds to consumers and modify its billing practices to get express consent from users.

ZDNet reports Lenovo announced updates to the Thinkpad Helix at IFA Thursday as well as two phones, the Vibe X2 which has a three-layer body design for $399 and 64-bit Vibe Z2 for $429 both coming in October. The new convertible Helix is 2.98 pounds about 15% lighter than the last Helix, 0.38 inch thick down from a half inch and has a Core M processor. It will be available in October starting at $999 with a magnetic ultrabook keyboard or you can wait until January for the Helix Pro with the flexible keyboard similar to the first Helix.

Engadget reports that Dyson, maker of fancy appliances that suck up dirt, will be unveiling its own robot vacuum today. The Dyson 360 Eye will apparently come with a 360 degree camera to better see the crumbs that drifted down to the floor from the scone you ate in bed last night. No judgement. The Dyson Eye can roam your house for 20 minutes before needing to return to its charging station. The expected cost is about 1650 dollars and the Eye will launch first in Japan. Betting is now open on The Battle of the Robot Vacuums: Roomba v. Eye, brought to you by a cat wearing a shark costume chasing a duck.

More phones! YAY! This ones actually a phablet. Because who doesn’t love a phablet? BUT WAIT This one is SMALLER than a regular Phablet. It’s all very confusing so let’s try to clear it up. Huawei introduced a 6-inch Ascend Mate 7 which is a smaller follow up tot he 6.1-inch Ascend Mate 2. Search and rescue is still looking for Mate’s 3,4,5, and 6. The Ascend Mate 7 has a one-touch fingerprint reader ON THE BACK! It also has a 1080p screen, dual SIM slots and Huawei’s own octa-core Kirin 925 SoC. The Mate 7 is due to arrive in Europe, Hong Kong and China this quarter in black, silver and gold. The 16 GB will run €499 and the 32 GB €599.

CNET reports Intel is making jewelry. Well it’s making a bracelet. Well, it’s making a smart bracelet which means another wearable for you. But I said jewelry because it will have a 1.6-inch sapphire display and semiprecious gems and be sold at Barneys in New York. It’s called MICA which stands for My Intelligent Communications Accessory” an almost Microsoft feat of naming. It will only cost you $1000 and give you notificatiosn on SMS, calendar items, and other things. It has a 3G radioand USB for charging. It comes in two models, one will have black water-snake skin, pearls from China, and lapis stones from Madagascar, the other is the white water-snake skin, tiger’s eye from South Africa, and obsidian from Russia.

 

Ars Technica reports US FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler spoke today at 1776, a startup hub in Washington DC and said that 25 Mbps Internet is fast becoming “table stakes” for US homes. That’s quite a bit faster than the FCC’s current definition of 4 Mbps as broadband. Wheeler said “at 25Mbps, there is simply no competitive choice for most Americans.” Wheeler said that even at 4 Mbps US customers only have a duopoly to choose from and he said its too hard to switch providers. So what’s the FCC going to do. By gum they’re going to go out there and try to make things more competitive, somehow. But not by doing anything drastic mind you.

The Next Web reports TwitPic will shut down on September 25th over a trademark dispute with Twitter. The company wrote on its blog “A few weeks ago Twitter contacted our legal demanding that we abandon our trademark application or risk losing access to their API.” The company has been around since 2008 and first filed fro the trademark in 2009.

News From You: 

spsheridan points out a Guardian story that Netflix continues to push US regulators to let cities build their own Internet infrastructure. Netflix told the US FCC in a Tuesday filing that it should block state laws in Tennessee and North Carolina that prevent cities from expanding their own Internet services.

KAPT_Kipper passes along the report that Facebook’s video autoplay feature is having an unwelcome impact on smartphone bills. MoneySavingExpert.com reports that it has received a number of complaints from users who have been hit with larger than usual data bills after exceeding their monthly allowance. People, c’mon. Let’s put the blame where it belongs. I’m talking to YOU, ice bucket challenge. The Daily Mail has a helpful inforgraphic on how to turn off the setting on various devices as well as tips on how to get your bill reduced.

And spsheridan ALSO submitted the LA Times story that Tesla chose Nevada as the site for its $5 billion battery plant. Nevada beat out California, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico to get the factory where Tesla will team up with Panasonic to build lithium ion batteries for its electric vehicles.

Discussion Section Links:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/04/business/media/rdio-moves-to-free-music-model-to-compete-with-spotify-and-others.html?_r=0

http://gigaom.com/2014/09/03/with-new-apps-and-a-free-ad-supported-tier-rdio-chases-after-pandora/

http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/04/rdio-free-station-redesign/

Pick of the Day:

Michael Hand (the now-producer of Tekzilla among other things) here with a pick of the day. Recently on Tekzilla we interviewed the founder of plot.ly, a site that makes it easy to graph and visualize any sort of data. This website is great if you want make sense of a pile of numbers in the easiest way possible. You can copy and paste data directly to the website or use their APIs with a handful of different programming languages. Switch between bar graphs, scatter plots, histograms, heat maps, and way more with a few clicks…I’m really into it!

I personally use it to graph Tekzilla download stats and even plot out bathroom usage data for the office restrooms (long story, see DIY Tryin’ or bathroomstatus.com).

Plot.ly is free for unlimited public graphs and 50 private graphs. Definitely check it out if you are a data geek like me!

 

Allison Sheridan joins us to look over the cool things announced at IFA, including an Oculus-Samsung joint VR helmet, a Samsung phablet with a warped screen and Sony’s e-ink bracelet.

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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Allison Sheridan, host of the Nosillacast

Headlines

Samsung announced new products including a virtual headset at IFA in Berlin. The Gear VR is a joint creation with Oculus VR that can track your head movements with a gyroscope and accelerometer and give you a 96-degree field of view. The Gear VR only comes with sensors and a focal adjustment lens. The screen and processing is provided by the new Note 4 which was also announced. Note 4 is a 5.7-inch phone with a 1440p SuperAMOLED display coming in October. A variant of the Note 4 called the Note Edge was also announced. It has a screen that bends and wraps around the right side, giving you notifications or a taskbar depending on the application. 

Sony announced some new phones as well. The Xperia Z3 has a 5.2-inch 1080p display, a 2.5 GHz snapdragon processor and a 3100 mAh battery that Sony says will last two days. It’s also water resistant. The very similar Xperia Z3 compact is a little smaller at 4.6-inches and only has a 720p display. The snappily named Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact is an 8-inch 1920 x 1200 device with a 2.5GHz Snapdragon 801, 3GB of RAM, 4500mAh battery and LTE. Sony also announced a fitness tracker with an e-ink screen called “SmartBand Talk” and a fitness watch with built-in Blueooth, GPS and 4 GB of storage called the SmartWatch 3. The watch comes this autumn for €229.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog points out that despite Apple recommending all users enable two-factor authentication, it doesn’t protect all Apple services. It seems designed to protect credit card information. It’s used on Apple ID support, the My Apple ID management console; or making an iTunes, App Store or iBooks purchase from a new device. That means photos are not one of the things you get extra protection on from 2FA. Furthermore if an attacker has the username and password for an iCloud account, software from Elcomsoft could be used to extract files from an online backup, even an old one.

TechCrunch reports on Asus announcing its first Android Wear device called the Asus ZenWatch. It has a a sandwich-like design with a rose gold-colored middle layer and stainless steel top and bottom, with a brushed surface around the face.It features a heart rate sensor on the underside and a number of gesture controls and preloaded features like unlocking your phone by tapping the watch and covering the face to mute. It’s expected to sell for €199 later this year.

ReCode reports Box announced it plans to offer a lot more businessy things so they can sell a cloud platform to companies in the insurance, finance, health care, pharmaceuticals and media industries. If buzzwords like industry-specific services and workflow get your blood boiling— and admit it, we know it does for some of you— it’s worth looking into. Box Workflow tool will try to streamline collaboration starting in 2015. Box for Industries will be a customized Box platform designed for a specific business type such as retail, healthcare and media and entertainment.

Ars Technica reports on Toshiba’s Chromebook 2 which has a 13.3-inch 1366 x 768 display and 2 GB of ram for $250. However if you shell out for the $330 model you get 4 GB of RAM and a 1080p IPS display. Both models use the dual-core Bay Trail-based Atom chip, the Celeron N2840. It comes in three colors (“Charcoal, Aqua, and Rose”), and goes on sale October 5.

Reuters reports that Verizon will pay 7.4 million dollars to settle a US FCC investigation into improper privacy notifications. The investigation, which began in 2006, found that the wireless company failed to properly notify two million new customers of their privacy rights in their first bill before using their information for marketing purposes. In addition to the settlement, Verizon also agreed to send opt-out notices on every bill. 

CNET passes along an IDC report that shipments of phone-tablet hybrids are expected to surpass laptop shipments this year, and sales of traditional tablets next year. IDC expect electronics companies to ship 175 million phablets this year, compared to 170 million laptops. And next year, they project shipments of 318 million phablets, compared to 233 million tablets. IDC defines a phablet as a smartphone with a screen size of 5.5 to 6.99 inches. 

News From You

silentworld07 pointed out the KrebsOn Security report about a possible credit card breach at Home Depot. Credit card breaches are unfortunately not very uncommon these days. Home Depot operates 2200 stores in the US and 287 elsewhere, though the extent of the breach is not yet known. Still most people don’t keep their nude photos at Home Depot since its a hardware store, so it isn’t getting the kind of attention other breaches get. Home Depot says that it is working with banks and law enforcement agencies to investigate reports of suspicious activity.

spsheridan passes along The Verge report about the nice mobile wallet app whose developers picked out a nice name, only to find that another organization was already using that name. The developers of the ISIS mobile wallet announced in June they would change the name of the app to avoid being confused with the violent Islamic terrorist group. Today they announced the app will now be called Softcard. Uh, excuse me, Softcard? Softbank is on the line, and they are NOT happy. 

Discussion Links: Samsung & Sony

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29044863

http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/3/6098745/samsung-gear-vr-oculus-announcement-hands-on

http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/03/samsung-virtual-reality/

http://www.cnet.com/news/samsung-unveils-galaxy-note-4-note-edge/#ftag=CAD590a51e

http://www.cnet.com/news/with-galaxy-note-edge-samsung-returns-to-comfort-zone-hardware/#ftag=CAD590a51e

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/09/samsung-reveals-vr-headset-powered-by-a-smartphone/

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/09/sony-launches-trio-of-flagship-devices-z3-z3-compact-and-z3-tablet/

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29010497 

Plug of the Day: Like tech history? I’ve teamed up with Scott Johnson to put out monthly looks at what happened in history this month. For 99 cents you get what happened on each day of the month that helped make the tech we sue today, plus illustrations from Scott Johnson. Check them out for 99 cents each at tommerrittbooks.com or just search Amazon.     

Pick of the Day: Questionable Content via Tom Betz

Listening to your DragonCon discussion of the potential risks of AI brought to mind a daily comic strip I follow, Questionable Content.

A slice-of-life comic set in an alternate-universe present-day Northampton, Massachussetts where self-aware Artificial Intelligence has existed for decades and AIs live among humans as voluntary cooperative or paid partners and companions, Jeph Jacques’ QC follows the lives of slacker twenty-something Marten Reed and his friends, family and acquaintances.
I really love the way the strip treats the many variants of AI as commonplace, integrating them into a world that is very like the one we already live in.

If you start from the beginning of the archive, you can see the development of Jacques’ drawing style; but it’s clear that his world was pretty fully formed as a concept from the beginning. Jacques has also re-drawn the whole story in his fully-developed art style, and collected it into a book. Either way you get to it, well worth your time.

Tomorrow’s guest:  11:30am Pacific show (aka Jennie’s tech rehearsal) with Justin Robert Young!

Patrick Beja is on the show and we’ll talk about YouTube getting in on crowd-funding and our picks to backup and protect your data.

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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Patrick Beja, independent podcaster!

Patrick’s patreon: http://www.patreon.com/RDVTech

Headlines

TechCrunch reports Apple released a statement on their 40-hour investigation into the unauthorized access of celebrity photos. Apple determined that “ certain celebrity accounts were compromised by a very targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions.” Apple says that the intrusions were not a result of breaches in the iCloud or Find My iPhone systems. Ars Technica reports the FBI is also investigating whether the accounts of the celebrities were hacked.

The New York Times reports on a decision by a court in Frankfurt, banning Uber’s UberPop service from operating in Germany. The court found that Uber did not get the necessary licenses and insurance for all drivers, and selected passengers which is not allowed for Taxis who must take anyone who can pay. Uber Black— a service with luxury sedans— is unaffected by the ban. Uber says it will continue to operate in Germany. Uber could face fines of up to 250,000 euros, or about $330,000 if any taxi company brings a complaint over Uber violating the ban.

According to Ars Technica, more than two thousand game developers signed an open letter asking for tolerance and acceptance in the gaming community. Andreas Zecher wrote the letter which says, “everyone, no matter what gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion or disability has the right to play games, criticize games and make games without getting harassed or threatened.” The letter comes in response to two recent incidents. Anita Sarkeesian, who creates videos analyzing the portrayal of women in video games left her home after being threatened. Also Zoe Quinn, creator of Depression Quest was harassed and threatened after an ex-boyfriend wrote a critical blog post revealing personal info about her. 

TechCrunch reports Google has rebranded its enterprise services as ‘Google for Work.’ Familiar apps all have enterprise versions which will now add ‘for work’ to their name to distinguish them from the free consumer versions. So, Drive for Work, Search for Work, et cetera. The new names are meant to make it simpler to explain what the tools are.

Netflix has partnered with Facebook to make video recommendations but maybe not in the way you’d expect. TechCrunch reports that if you’ve connected your Facebook account to Netflix, after watching a show, you’ll be asked if you want to suggest a video to a friend. If you do it, the suggestion will not show up on the Facebook news feed, instead it will op up the next time that person uses Netflix. Or if they don’t have Netflix it will be sent as a private Facebook message.

CNET reports that Sonos will now let users connect its speakers directly to a Wi-Fi network, without the need for a bridge connected to your router. Sonos Playbar in 3.1 or 5.1 configurations will still need a wired connection. A software update is available today. If you’re home is too big to get good WiFi everywhere you’d like a speaker, Sonos also has a new wireless peripheral called the Sonos Boost, available later this year, for $99. 

News From You

diggsalot submitted a post from WeLiveSecurity.com passing along the Popular Science story about fake cellphone “towers.” The article quotes CEO of ESD America, Les Goldsmith saying his team found 17 interceptors during the month of July. An interceptor is used by law enforcement and criminals alike to mimic a cell phone tower and ‘intercept connections without being detected. ESD America markets a hardened Samsung Galaxy phone called the CryptoPhone 500.

KAPT_Kipper passes along the TechCrunch report about Apple publishing the Top 10 reasons it rejects apps. Sixty percent of App rejections during a seven day period in August 2014 were due to these ten reasons. The number one most common reason? “More information needed.” The number 2 reason? Bugs in the code. Other reasons include not complying with the Developer Program License Agreement, an overly complex or poorly designed interface, or the use of placeholder text. 42% of the rejections were for ‘Other Reasons’, because– reasons. 

and tm204 passed along the 9to5 Mac story that Reddit has launched an Ask me Anything app for iOS that gives you an easy way to follow real-time and archived AMAs. AMAs are Reddit’s most popular feature, with 6.2M followers. A third of Reddits visitors come from mobile, so the site plans to try to address that user base more actively.

Discussion Links: 
http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/09/01/youtube-now-offers-fan-funding-heres-look-works/

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6052077

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6050322

http://thenextweb.com/google/2014/09/02/youtubes-new-fan-funding-feature-lets-you-donate-to-your-favorite-channel-owners/

Plug of the Day:  Daily Tech News Show Shirt with Mustafa from thepolarcat.com’s logo now available in white, black and Ash. Look in the podcasts section.

Pick of the Day: 

CrashPlan 

LastPass 

Tomorrow’s guest: Allison Sheridan, host of the Nosillacast

It’s the Labor Day holiday in the US so just a short roundup of the headlines today.

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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Lasers turn glass into metal.

Jonathan Strickland, Justin Young, Veronica Belmont join the show to talk about how the drones, AI and robots will kill us all thanks to Amazon and Google. +Len Peralta illustrates the show!

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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Tom’s traveling to DragonCon but still gives the headlines and tells how advice from the IT Crowd got his plane flying.

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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Dan Patterson is on the show and we’ll talk about super fast subs, banning after work email, and Timothy B. Lee will join in to talk about this whole Uber-Lyft fight.

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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Dan Patterson, technology journalist

Headlines

ReCode reports Apple plans to unveil a wearable device along with two iPhone at a yet-to-be-officially-announced September 9th event. The wearable will supposedly make us of HomeKit and HealthKit as one might expect. A rumored October event was rumored to announce a wearable but is still rumored to still be on.

Dropbox increased my storage to 1 TB today. As CNET reports Dropbox Pro users now have one tier that doublse the previous top tier of 500 GB and it costs $10 a month the previous price of the lowest tier of 100 GB. Dropbox also is rolling out the ability to password-protect shared links, share in edit or view only mode as well as add expiration dates. Finally users can remotely wipe folders on lost or stolen devices.

The Verge reports that Microsoft will begin selling the Kinect sensor as a standalone product on October 7th. The Kinect will sell for $149 dollars and come with a copy of Dance Central Spotlight. Back in May, Microsoft began selling the Xbox One without the Kinect for a reduced price of $399. Kinect for Windows is still expected later this year.

The Next Web reports Google will launch its first campus in Asia with a startup-focused location in Seoul. Google’s startup program currently has locations in London and Tel Aviv as well. Google hopes to launch the campus sometime next year.

The Next Web reports Twitter has opened up its Tweet activity dashboard to English, French, Japanese and Spanish users who have had an account for at least 14 days. Everybody else should get it soon. This is the dashboard previously only available to advertisers. Head to analytics.twitter.com if you have a few hours to get lost stats nerds.

Gigaom reports that Germany’s Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is exploring the idea of passing a law to ban after hours work and email calls. German firms such as BMW, Volkswagen and Deutsche Telecom have banned after-hours work communication on their own already. The labor minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, called for such a law earlier this month to combat burnout.  

News From You

KAPT_Kipper submitted the GeekWire story on Google’s domain registration service which is currently invite only. Google offers free WHOIS privacy protection, and up to 100 free email forwarding addresses for $12. Domains can be configured as usual though there is built-in integration with Wix, Shopify and Squarespace. The downside is Google doesn’t support all domain names, like dot-TV, yet. 

davidpolanco pointed out that Seagate is now shipping an 8 TB 3.5-inch hard drive with a SATA 6 gigabit-per-second interface. Select customers are getting the drives now with wider availability next quarter. 

KAPT_Kipper passes along the Consumerist report that Hewlett-Packard is recalling nearly six million power cords because they can overheat, creating a fire and burn hazard. HP received 29 reports of melting cords, including two that included claims of minor burns. The LS-15 AC cords were distributed with HP and Compaq notebook and mini-notebook computers and with accessories such as docking stations. The cords were sold in the US and Canada from September 2010 to June 2012 at electronics stores and hp.com We’ll have a link to the instructions on what to do in the show notes, but instruction number one is unplug that cord!

MacBytes sent in the Engadget story that researchers at Harbin Institute of Technology’s Complex Flow and Heat Lab have developed a way that could allow submarines to travel from Shanghai to San Francisco, 9,873 km, in as few as 100 minutes. Using a sort of a airbubble that takes advantage of supercavitation and reduces drag, vehicles COULD reach the speed of sound underwater about 5800 km/h. They just need to crack launching, steering and powering it and BOOM Superfast Submarines.

Discussion Links: 

http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/26/6067663/this-is-ubers-playbook-for-sabotaging-lyft

https://twitter.com/CaseyNewton/status/504379051050414081

http://gigaom.com/2014/08/26/those-canceled-lyft-rides-were-all-part-of-ubers-elaborate-master-plan-to-recruit-drivers/?

http://www.businessinsider.com/kalanick-defends-ubers-tactics-2014-8

http://www.vox.com/2014/8/27/6074919/the-uber-recruitment-scandal-isnt-scandalous

http://money.cnn.com/2014/08/11/technology/uber-fake-ride-requests-lyft/

http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/12/uber-lyft-slap-fight/

Plug of the Day:  Like tech history? I’ve teamed up with Scott Johnson to put out monthly looks at what happened in history this month. For 99 cents you get what happened on each day of the month that helped make the tech we sue today, plus illustrations from Scott Johnson. Check them out for 99 cents each at tommerrittbooks.com or just search Amazon.

Pick of the Day: Slice.com via Scott Odle

After hearing a while back about Luke Pohr’s pick Package Buddy I wanted to add my pick for tracking purchases, SLICE.COM. Slice builds on Package Buddy by automating tracking and putting all your purchase and tracking info in one app. It scrapes your email to give you a purchase history and can give you notifications for items shipping, out for delivery, and delivered. Slice also helps you track all your online purchasing habits. Once I signed up it gave me my entire online purchasing history since I first began ordering online, 8 years worth!

Thursday is a headlines only show, as Tom gets on his dragon and flies to the Con!

If you’re in Atlanta this weekend and headed to DragonCon be sure to head to the Grand Ballroom West at the Hilton at 10:00 PM (Eastern) on Friday night August 29th. Why?

BECAUSE that’s when the live performance of the Daily Tech News Show (AFTER DARK) takes place. Jonathan Strickland of Tech Stuff will be alongside and you know we won’t stop there with guests. Come join us!!

Fri Aug. 29, 10:00 pm Location: Grand Ballroom West – Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)
(Panelists: Tom Merritt, Jonathan Strickland and More)

Molly Wood is back and ready to talk Hyperlapse’s in app-maker’s judgements along with why we’re scared to talk on the Internet.

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 and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes

Today’s guest: Molly Wood, columnist and deputy technology editor at The New York Times. s

Headlines

Instagram released a new app called Hyperlapse that lets you record up to 45 minutes of video and then choose a rate to speed it up with options as fast as 12x. The video can be saved to the camera roll and you can do whatever you want with it There are buttons that will launch the Instagram or Facebook apps for easy sharing if you have those, but they’re not required.

ZDNet reports that Google is acquiring Zync, whose main product is Zync Render,  a cloud-based rendering and storage platform for both 2D and 3D applications. Zync Render has been used on a number of Hollywood films, including Looper, Star Trek: Into Darkness and Transformers: Dark of the Moon. No word yet on how much Google paid. The service will be moved to Google’s Cloud Platform.

Vice president of Amazon games, Mike Frazzini talked with Fortune about Amazon’s newest $970-million all-cash acquisition Twitch. He said, “First and foremost, we want Twitch to just keep going.” I’m sure they do. Meanwhile Forbes’ Ryan Mac heard from a source that antitrust fears played a part in the deal going to Amazon instead of Google. Google allegedly wanted a breakup fee in case the acquisition was not approved because it already owns YouTube. 

GigaOm passes along details about a US NSA tool called ICREACH, revealed by the Intercept Monday. ICREACH apperss to be a search tool used to share data with 23 US government agencies as well as foreign intelligence agencies in Canada, the UK, New Zealand and Australia. The data shared included emails, phone calls, faxes, internet chats, and text messages, as well as location information collected from cellphones.

BitTorrent’s Dropbox competitor Sync got a little more Dropbox-like today according to GigaOm. BitTorrent sync can now make Web links for shared files and folders expanding it beyond simple folder synchronization. Previously users had to exchange cryptographic keys or QR codes to share links to files. The new Web links automatically expire after three days although you can set them to expire faster.

According to Ars Technica, Microsoft is under investigation by Chinese regulatory authorities for bundling its Internet Explorer browser and Windows Media Player app with its operating system. If you sense that all this has happened before, you might be remembering similar complaints from the European Union and South Korea which led to the creation of separate software packs for each country. Microsoft says it will fully comply with the investigation.

News From You

Kelleyb alerted us to the Ars Technica report that California Governor Jerry Brown has signed a law requiring all smartphones in the state come with a kill-switch. While I had hoped the law meant all phones would be required to go into kill mode to defend you when attacked, it actually means as of July 1, 2015 all smartphones sold in California will have to have a remote wipe feature. The kill switch and new civil penalties of $500 to $2500 for stealing phones are hoped to reduce phone theft.

tm204 shares the Ars Technica report that Microsoft has reduced the prices of the Surface 2 Windows RT tablet by $100. The least expensive 32 GB unit now costs $349, the 64GB unit costs $449, and the 64GB model with LTE version costs $579. With the price cut, the 32GB 1920×1080 Microsoft Surface is now less expensive than most other tablets, with the exception of the non-Retina iPad mini. The discounts are available through Microsoft’s physical and online stores, as well as through some other retailers such as Amazon. 

ancrod2 pointed out the SlashGear writeup about RoboBrain, a project led by robotics researcher Ashutosh Saxena, to organize information from the Internet to make it easier for robots to learn. RoboBrain would be a cloud based storage system integrating 100,000 data sources and various types of supervised and unsupervised machine learning algorithms The idea is to give robots access to a remote system that provides a more complex understanding of the world. In other words the individual robot’s NET would be in the cloud or rather— SKY.

Discussion Links: 

http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/08/26/social-media-and-the-spiral-of-silence/#fn-11806-1

http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/26/social-media-is-silencing-personal-opinion-even-in-the-offline-world/?ncid=rss

Plug of the Day: The Sword and Laser Anthology collects 20 amazing stories from new writers in the Sword and Laser book club audience. 10 SciFi and 10 fantasy stories with an introduction by Patrick Rothfuss. Get a copy at swordandlaser.com/store http://swordandlaser.com/store/

Pick of the Day: Go Contact Sync Mod  via Rolando- from the Paraguay, the heart of South America

I’ve using Outlook since the 90s–a critical component of my workflow was an easy wireless way to sync desktop and phone for contacts and calendar. The magic was accomplished then by Nokia Suite through bluetooth. When modern smartphones became a thing, a new component (“the cloud”) was needed in the mix. So I used Google Calendar Sync and a little great desktop app called Go Contact Sync Mod to have Outlook-Cloud-Phone two-way wireless sync nirvana: my contacts, appointments and notes were available to me in my desktop, phone or cloud in perfect harmony. But the Microsoft-Google fight has gotten in the way of my sync heaven, first by stopping support for Exchange ActiveSync and then Google Calendar Sync. Luckily, the wonderful guys of Go Contact Sync Mod came to the rescue by updating their app and providing 2-way sync (Outlook-Google) for Calendar, Contacts, Notes. Best of all, it’s free and opensource. Finally, my workflow equilibrium has been restored.

Wednesday’s guest: Dan Patterson, technology journalist