Tech News Today 120

Tech News Today Episode 120

Tech News Today 120: The FBI Would Tap That

Is IE9 cheating, how Twitter makes money, get GPS to speak Na'vi, and more.

Hosts

• Tom Merritt (@acedtect)
  • TomMerritt.com
• Iyaz Akhtar
  • thisoldnerd.finitecomedy.com
• Jason Howell
  • JasonHowell.net

Top Stories

• Hulu Plus drops price to $7.99 a month, adds Roku support for official launch
• Hulu Updates IOS App With Split-screen Player, More
• Yes, Cord Cutting Is Real, Says Report That The Cable Guys Don’t Believe
• Harry Potter leaked and Warner is ticked
• ‘Harry Potter’ Leak Seems More Like Publicity Than Piracy
• New Amazon movie studio seeks submissions
• Amazon offers cash, exposure to budding filmmakers
• Welcome to Amazon Studios

Other Stories

• IE9 Platform Preview 7: performance is the priority
• But did they cheat?
• The analysis from Ycombinator
• FBI brass ask Google, Facebook to expand wiretaps
• Twitter to Sell 50% of All Tweets for $360k/Year Through Gnip
• Google introduces "Boutiques"

News Fuse

• The Mark Zuckerberg of real life is much less obstinate than the one in The Social Network. On stage at the Web 2.0 coference Zuck admitted he isn't sure Facebook is "100 per cent right" in preventing Googleand others from automatically importing email addresses from Facebook.. He says that the company is still weighing the possibilities — and that it believes in openness.

• Net neutrality arguments are over? on Tuesday, Comcast executives proclaimed consensus on net neutrality is at hand. However the UK's Culture Minister revived the argument that content companies should pay to be on the Internet, inciting protests from all kinds of groups. Apparently Minister Vaizey is under the impression that everyone gets a website for free without having to pay to access the Internet in the first place.

• If you thought the Nexus S Erik Schmidt showed off at Web 2.0 looked curved, youw ere right. It had a concave glass front. Engadget reports Samsung's been shopping this curved display technology to carriers for a while. Sprint bought the line but Samsung couldn't deliver the product in the right volume, so that's where the Nexus S might come into play;
• Google Docs just added mobile editing to its text Documents to go alongside the ability to edit spreadsheets. Edits show up in near realtime across platforms, and you can even edit embedded tables. Android allows you to insert text using voice recognition. Google Docs will support Froyo and iOS 3.0- and Newer devices with 3.0, with the functionality rolling out over the next few days.
• A company called Gravity wants to use your Twitter account to make website suit your tastes better. They've demoed an app called The Orbit that takes a user’s Twitter account and computes the topics a person is interested in and the network she is connected to. Eventually they suggest a site like the New York Times could order up front page stories based on Gravity's assessment of your social interests.
• "This is a test" may soon come as a text message. The Emergency Broadcast System is coming to your cell phone. Alcatel-Lucent is creating a Broadcast Message Center that will allow government agencies to send cell phone users specific information in the event of a local, state or national emergency. Geographically-targeted text messages could warn of a tornado or major road closure, for example.
• Here's a new use for your facebook.com email address. Debt collection! Melanie Beacham says that a collector from MarkOne Financial contacted her relatives about her past due car note via Facebook. She is filing suit alleging that the company is harassing her family.
• Turns out Google and Amazon had a shot at getting the Beatles music, and Google doesn't even have a music service yet. EMI CEO Roger Faxon got the negotiations going in earnest over the summer. After rapid negotiations involving Apple Corps CEO Jeff Jones, Faxon and Steve Jobs, a deal was hatched and the parties set about planning the announcement.

Kickers

• Na'vi on your sat-navatar

Calendar

• Jimmy Kimmel's National Unfriend Day
• Boxee Box available at retail today
• VUDU hits PS3 on November 23rd, UI overhaul coming mid-December
• Help pick the best moments of TWiT and TNT

Voicemail

• Phil B: How Hulu beat Netflix for one man

Email

"Jay's cunning plan to use one box to reach all the rooms in his house? ""My plan with the Boxee Box is to use an HDMI splitter to split off the signal from the box to all TVs. The remote is RF so it will work in every room. :]

-Jay"

Sponsors

Ford Fiesta

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Carbonite

• Carbonite.com offer code TNT
• Carb #3
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Production Information

• Edited by: jason
• Notes:

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