Tech News Today 124

Tech News Today Episode 124

Tech News Today 124: Tighty Titanium Whities

Weird laptop from Acer, Verizon rewrites telecom law, Insurance spies on your Facebook

Hosts

• Tom Merritt (@acedtect)
  • TomMerritt.com
• Becky Worley (@bworley)
  • BeckyWorley.com
• Jason Howell
  • JasonHowell.net

Top Stories

• Acer Iconia first hands-on!
• -Iconia specs
• -Acer reveals 4.8-inch Android smartphone with 1024x480 screen resolution
• -Acer introduces 7-inch and 10.1-inch Android tablets, shipping April 2011 [1]
• -Acer launches Alive digital content platform and app store, plans to pre-load it onto future machines

• FCC Updating 911 for the Texting Generation, SRSLY

• U.S. TV Networks Win Restraining Order Against FilmOn [2]

Other Stories

• Verizon proposes wholesale rewrite of US telecom law

• Viewers seem OK with more Web video ads

• Online Behavior Could Influence Insurance Rates

• Angry Birds switches from mobiles to games consoles

News Fuse

• FarmVille has fallen. Among Facebook apps with the most active users, an app called "Phrases" has taken the number one slot, ending Farmville's 15 month reign. "Phrases" lets Facebook users post quizzes, sayings and images on their newsfeed. The app has 54,387,850 monthly active users while "FarmVille" has a mere 53,939,978.

• Nielsen thanks they know what tech kids want for Christmas. Because they asked According to a survey in October 31 percent of kids 6-12 want an iPad. A computer and an iPod Touch tied for second, Nintendo's DS took fourth and the PS3, any smartphone, and a mobile phone all tied for fifth place. The iPhone, a TV, and the forthcoming Nintendo 3DS rounded out the top 10. Least popular? An e-reader.

• That didn't take long. The new iOS 4.2.1 has been Jailbroken with an updated Redsn0w 0.9.6b4 from the iPhone Dev Team. For recent devices the jailbreak, is still "tethered," meaning users must reconnect their device to a computer via USB to re-jailbreak if they need to restart it. Users of the iPhone 3G, older iPhone 3GS models and second-generation iPod touch get an untethered jailbreak.

• The consumer electronics show has thousands of gadgets , miles of displays, hundreds of thousands of attendees and yet it's been missing something: Nintendo! the gaming company is returning to CES after a 16-year absence. Will they gamble on the vegas venue to hype hte immenent 3ds release or wll this be new news like say a 3d wii? huh huh??? My wii contatc called me yesterday to ask if I'd be at CES- so I'm thinking 3d wiiiiiiii

• Microsoft is looking to expand its Silverlight web platform to Xbox 360, according to a recent job advertisement placed by the company. Silverlight has gone from being Microsoft's Flash competitor to Microsoft’s primary development platform for mobile applications on Windows Phone, and now apparently, the Xbox. Is there an Xbox app store in our future?

• The Beatles on iTunes was a yawn for some in the tech world- everyone who wanted the beatles on their iPod has them ripped from a CD already - right? umm wrong. More than 450,000 albums and 2 million individual songs were sold on iTunes worldwide last week. Top song here comes the sun top album: Abby Road.

• People serving in the U.S. military now have their own Web site where they can upload, share, and watch videos. MilTube is a safer, more secure alternative to YouTube, with content protected behind firewalls. As such, it can serve the interests of military personnel who want to share videos but also satisfy the concerns of the Department of Defense. MilTube could share training footage, news clips, and other video.

• Planning a trip to Kuwait? Don't take your Nikon D80. Kuwait's ministries of information, social affairs, and finance has banned DSLR Cameras for Non-Journalists. this edict is in place for all public places, including on the streets and in shopping malls, not to worry Lower res cameras and disposable cameras from CVS are OK.

Kickers and Weird Science

• He's selling TSA-proof underwear

Calendar

• Apple Planning December Event With Rupert Murdoch

• Beta Version of Nevercookie Released

• Reclaimprivacy.org is broken

• Sony Reader app hitting iPhone and Android devices in December

• Be a part of TNT this holiday season!

Email

"In yesterday's show, you joked about people still using Wordperfect. Sadly, my father's office is one of those places. He works in a US Attorney's office. I'm sure the fact the federal government is so far behind the times comes as no surprise.

-Patrick from Newton, MA"

"Hi TNT gang!

It makes me nuts when Apple complains about fragmentation on the Android platform. What about fragmentation in iOS? I think the Apple comments were directed at problems for developers, but what about the customer experience?

Nobody ever mentions the original iPhone. It is stuck at iOS 3 and abandoned. There are many apps that now require iOS 4. That is fragment #1.

There were hardware features added between the 3G and 3GS and another set from 3GS to 4. That means an application you purchase must accommodate those changes and will act differently for different users with different equipment. That is fragment #2.

With iOS 4.2 Apple is offering Find My iPhone as a free service on 3GS and 4. 3G is able to support this service, but it will still require MobleMe. This is the same service on the same level of iOS being treated differently on different models. This is fragment #3.

Apple can throw stones at Android, but they shouldn't be so smug. I don't think their record is that much better.

Thanks,

Don

from St. Louis, MO (Tom's backyard!)"

"OK so I went GAGA for Hulu when it hit Roku, this weekend I took a long look at Hulu and lost my infatuation. Then yesterday my old girlfriend Netflix said she'd go as low in Hulu in cost but I'd have to settle for no discs. I'd like to say on my Facebook page it now reads that ""Netflix and I are back in a relationship""...HULU, it's complicated.

Phil Barter Worcester, Ma"

Sponsors

Ford

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Slingbox

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Production Information

• Edited by: Jeff
• Notes:

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