Tech News Today 217

Tech News Today Episode 217

Tech News Today 217: Unefficiensizing Your Data

Best Buy seems to lie a lot, Sarah Lane ousts Wozs, TJ Maxx hacker claims gov't made him do it, and more.

Hosts

• Tom Merritt (@acedtect)
  • TomMerritt.com
• Sarah Lane (@sarahlane)
  • SarahLane.com
• Jason Howell
  • JasonHowell.net
• Iyaz Akhtar
  • thisoldnerd.finitecomedy.com
• Peter Ha
  • thedaily.com

Top Stories

• Google's major reorg
• Sundar Pichai is now senior vice president of Chrome, Vic Gundotra is SVP of social, Andy Rubin SVP of mobile, Salar Kamangar SVP of YouTube and video, Alan Eustace SVP of search and Susan Wojcicki SVP of ads.
• One More “Core Product Area” at Google: Commerce and Local, Led by Jeff Huber
• PageYank: As New SVPs Are Born at Google in CEO Reorg, What Happens to the Old Ones?
  • Page reorg's Google
  • 6 SVPs report to him, SVPs run their divisions autonomously
  • Page looking for clear lines of accountability, spark innovation
  • Structure bypasses Google's operating committee for decisions
  • Divisions run more like Andorid and YouTube
  • Promotions create questions for current top execs"

• ITA Software acquisition cleared for takeoff
• Justice Department Requires Google Inc. to Develop and License Travel Software in Order to Proceed with Its Acquisition of ITA Software Inc.
• Expedia to split into two companies
• Why Google’s Opponents Are OK With The ITA Merge
• Google will be required to continue to license ITA’s QPX software to airfare websites on commercially reasonable terms. QPX conducts searches for air travel fares, schedules and availability. Google will also be required to continue to fund research and development of that product at least at similar levels to what ITA has invested in recent years. Google will also be required to further develop and offer ITA’s next generation InstaSearch product to travel websites, which will provide near instantaneous results to certain types of flexible airfare search queries. Google will be required [by the DOJ] to implement firewall restrictions within the company that prevent unauthorized use of competitively sensitive information and data gathered from ITA’s customers.“We see the Justice Department deciding to impose antitrust restrictions on Google as quite simply a win for consumers,” said Robert Birge, Chief Marketing Officer for Kayak. “There’s quite a lot more to happen on this.”

• YouTube Gets Into The Live Stream Business
• YouTube is going LIVE
  • YT gets livestreaming
  • limited to ""trusted partners"" right now (Including Hak5), it's a beta right now
  • Check YouTube.com/Live and you can add live events to your calendar
  • Live vid not available to mobile users

Discussion Stories

• Best Buy responds to alleged iPad 2 sales freeze divulged by Best Buy staffers [updated]
• “A misunderstanding” between Apple and Best Buy over iPad 2 sales? (UPDATED with your tips)
  • BGR reporting employees of at least two Best Buy stores were told by managers not to sell iPad 2 inventory on Thursday afternoon.
  • Best Buy's response to BGR via email: ""Our stores have been asked to temporarily hold non-reserved iPad 2 inventory for an upcoming promotion"" Says Apple and BB are BFFs."

• Flash use dips at top Web sites since November
• No BlackBerry PlayBook Yet? Blame Flash
  • 2% drop in Flash usage from Nov 15, 2010 to Mar 29, 2011, 49% to 47%
  • HTTP Archive surveyed the top 17,000 sites
  • Obvious culprit is Apple's anti-Flash stance on iOS
  • Betw. Nov and Dec 2010, Flash usage rose to 50%
  • Wired speculates that Flash may be delaying the Playbook
  • Cites Moto Xoom flash issue
  • Honeycomb version of Flash is a prerelease

• T.J.Maxx hacker says feds gave him the OK
  • Albert Gonzalez, the hacker who pleaded guilty to leading one of the largest cases of credit card theft in the U.S., is asking a judge to toss out the pleas, arguing that they were part of his assignments as a paid government informant. Gonzalez became a confidential informant for the Secret Service when he was arrested in New York in 2003 after withdrawing cash from ATMs using stolen card numbers. While working closely with agents for more than four years to put other carders behind bars, he was simultaneously running a criminal enterprise he dubbed “Operation Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” according to court documents.

• Windows 8 to feature native SmartScreen file checking

News Fuse

• If the United States government doesn't pass a budget, then we're looking at a government shut down. A memo was sent out to federal agencies that their dot gov sites may be coming down as well. Only a few will still be up like tax collection sites. Maybe the government could migrate their sites to Google sites to save money.

• The US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that the computers and other digital devices can be seized at the United States border without a warrant. On top of that, the devices can be sent to a secondary site to be inspected. So if you're traveling in and out of the United States, you may want to store all your data in the cloud in case your laptop is seized. So bring some tasty food while they search your laptop, maybe something from Colonel Sanders.

• In the first quarter of this year, smartphone maker HTC made some serious money - $513 million in revenue with three times the profit compared to last year. It looks like HTC's strategy of making smartphones with any operating system seems to be working.

• Japan apparently does not love the Nintendo 3DS. The brand new 3D handheld game system is getting outsold by the good ol' Sony PSP. The Sony PSP sold over 58,000 units compared to the 3DS's nearly 43,000 during the week of March 28th.

• The headlines read "Steve Wozniak says he would consider return to Apple." Well, that's not exactly what happened. When asked if Woz would like to play an active role in Apple if asked, Steve said "I'd consider it, yeah." So here we have Woz saying something quite mundane but it may be getting blown out of proportion.

• The Samsung Galaxy Tab is getting an update on Verizon! Is the Tab getting Android 2.3? Nope, but Verizon is rolling out a software update that would punch up browser performance, tweak the email app, and increase battery life. If you have a Verizon Tab, you'll get a notification on your device that there's a system update. All you've to do is tap install.

• You remember the Kno tablet - it looks like 2 tablets connected via a hinge. Well, Kno Inc. just landed $30 million. Of note, Intel invested $20 million of that infusion. The money will be used to develop software.

• And following up on Tuesday's procedural resolution against the FCC's net neutrality rules, the US House of Representatives voted 240-179 to disapprove the rules the FCC has drafted but still not yet published in the Federal Register. The Senate would have to approve the same resolution to overturn the rules, and the White House has indicated it would veto any such bill.

Kickers and Weird Science

• Augmented Reality Interface Exploits Human Nervous System to Cut Down on Distraction

Calendar

• Leaked Verizon Unleashed pricing sheets detail $50 unlimited talk / text plans
• PSP starts streaming Sony's Music Unlimited streaming service on April 14th
• Microsoft to fix 64 flaws on Patch Tuesday next week: security fixes are packaged in 17 bulletins and affects the Windows operating system, Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, Visual Studio, the .NET Framework and GDI+.
• Verizon Wireless confirmed to Boy Genius Report that it's eliminating its one-year contract option on April 17th, 2 years or pay a lot more!
• Acer's Android tablet, the Iconia Tab A500 is out for preorder today at an attractive $450. The tablet runs Honeycomb has a 1GHz processor has 16GB internal storage and is WiFi only. The A500 is set to ship April 24.
• Minecraft will exit from beta status November 11, says creator Markus Persson. The full version won't differ very much, though the team plans to keep adding features before and after the "beta" label comes off. Minecraft has generated about $32 million in revenue

Voicemail

• Zack from New Hampshire chimes in about Amazon's Cloud Drive

• Google, Open Source and Android

Email

"Hello TNT people -

Will left a voicemail about the Makerbot ABS plastics, and how they wouldn't be very durable and have a low melting point, compared to something like Nylon - this isn't completely true. While you're not going to be replacing a piston in your car's engine with something off of a makerbot, the ABS plastics used have a melting point of around 220C, which is actually very close to nylon, and the ABS plastic is decently tough, it's similar to the plastic you'd find in a Lego piece. Again, it's not titanium, but is durable enough for many uses. --- Brian from CT"

"Hey TNT Crew, Just a quick response to yesterday's call from Will: Shapeways and competitive businesses make 3D printing available in many materials, including a stainless steel/bronze mixture) for affordable prices. You don't need your own machine and the resolution on their printers is really high. I do t think we'll see guns coming out quite yet, but it isn't far off.

I'm interested to see where the copyright battles go.

Love the show,

Jeffrey Matthias (Muh-thigh-us) "

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Production Information

• Edited by: Jason
• Notes:

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