Tech News Today 421

Tech News Today Episode 421

"RIM Loses A Pair (Of CEOs)"Hosts: Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Iyaz Akhtar, Jason Howell, Lance Ulanoff Recorded: January 23, 2012 Published: January 23, 2012 Duration: 51:31 Transcript Previous episode – Next episode

Contents 1 Tech News Today 421: RIM Loses A Pair (Of CEOs) 1.1 Hosts 1.2 Top Stories 1.3 Discussion Stories 1.4 News Fuse 1.5 Randomizer 1.6 Calendar 2 INCOMING 2.1 Email 3 Sponsors 3.1 Ford 4 Production Information

Tech News Today 421: RIM Loses A Pair (Of CEOs)

RIM's new CEO acts like clone of old ones, Google + allows pseudonyms, Megaupload bust has chilling implications, and more.

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Hosts

• Tom Merritt (@acedtect)
  • TomMerritt.com
• Sarah Lane (@SarahLane)
  • SarahLane.com
• Iyaz Akhtar (@Iyaz)
  • ThisOldNerd.FiniteComedy.com
• Jason Howell (@RayGun01)
  • JasonHowell.net
• Lance Ulanoff
  • mashable.com

Top Stories

• RIM's ‘Quant-Jock' CEO Balsillie Steps Down After 20 Years
• RIM's vaunted security a selling point no longer?
• New RIM CEO Won’t Split Company Up: “I Don’t Think There Is a Drastic Change Needed.”
• RIM is open to licensing BlackBerry 10, confirms new CEO
• RIM’s New Boss: The Analysts React
• Wall Street's reaction to RIM's new CEO: Who cares?
• WSJ confirms BlackBerry PlayBook 'revamp' in the works
• Who is RIM CEO Thorsten Heins, anyway?
• RIM's co-CEOs: Their employees didn't like them either
  • Lazaridis will stay on as vice chairman and head of an innovation unit at RIM, Balsillie will have no operational role and will remain a director
  • Thorsten Heins becomes CEO (only 1 this time) - The company named board member Barbara Stymiest its chairperson
  • In a call this morning Heins said a new PlayBook tablet, and a new operating system due out in the fall. Also: “I don’t think there is a drastic change needed.”
  • Re: Licensing Bb OS 10? "if it makes sense strategically and tactically," but he's not making it a focus for RIM
  • Brian Bennet from CNET argues most people don't need the level of security provided by RIM
  • a survey of more than 120 reviews from RIM employees taken by Glassdoor - Balsillie and Lazaridis received from their employees a 48 percent approval rating, and a 52 percent disapproval rating. On average, a CEO gets an approval rating of 62 percent.
• Balsillie has been trying to bring NHL to Hamilton

• During its earnings call, Larry Page announced that Google+ is up to 90 million users. However, that number may be a little inflated
• Handle This: Google+ Finally Allows Pseudonyms
• Toward a more inclusive naming policy for Google+
  • Folks are going after Google +'s '90 million' number saying it's inflated by including anyone who signed upf or Gmail and was automatically signed up for Google +
  • Google's new sign up page makes people create a Gmail, Google profile account and join Google+. Last week, the altered sign up page made news, but ArsTechnica talked to Google's PR team and found out that this "new" sign up page actually rolled out in November.
  • Google + starting Monday will allow pseudonyms but requests must provide evidence, like a URL or a scanned driver’s license. Google+ also won't accept new pseudonyms. VP of Product Bradley Horowitz says the option is intended for “people who have earned credit in other social systems and want to redeem that credit in Google+ … We will swing the doors open and welcome them to our system.” Google says they'll destroy all documentation you send them once you're verified. Google says this applies to less than 1% of signups.
  • For nicknames, there’s a new field under your Profile/About page. Enter the nickname and it appears either in the middle of your actual name (Lance “Lancealot” Ulanoff) or at the end in parenthesis.

• Digital Music Sales Grow Worldwide, But Big Music Still Frets About Pirates
  • IFPI: global digital music sales grew 8 percent last year
  • 1st time growth rate increased since tracking began in 2004
  • Subscription services rose from 8 million to 13 million
  • Digital Music sales account for 32 percent of sales, up from 29 percent last year.
  • IFPI argues that French iTunes sales have increased more than 20 percent because of Hadopi

Discussion Stories

• FileSonic has disabled file sharing in wake of Megaupload takedown
• In wake of Megaupload arrests, FileSonic shutters file-sharing service
• Storage sites unnerved by Megaupload action
• More Megaupload fallout: FileServe shutters file-sharing service
• The Pirate Bay now lets you download physical objects
  • FileSonic has disabled all file sharing functionality on its website, restricting access so that users may only download their own files.
  • RapidShare not concerned. Beleive legitimate hosting sites have nothing to worry about.
  • FileSonic uses digital fingerprinting technology from a content identification firm called Vobile to detect copyrighted material on its network and prohibit unauthorized sharing. The Verge questioned whether the system has actually been put into place.
  • FileSonic has a designated DMCA agent and provides instructions for submitting a claim. They also allow users to report violations.
  • cyberlocker Uploaded.to has apparently blocked US users. The site pays money based on number of people who download a file.
  • FileServe joins FileSonic in restricting files to only those uploaded byt he user attempting to download.

• MegaUpload lawyer: U.S. misunderstands the business
• Megaupload founder seeks bail in New Zealand court
• Explainer: How can the US seize a "Hong Kong site" like Megaupload?
• Megaupload dismisses Universal from takedown suit, continues case against others?
  • Kim Dotcom and 3 others appeared in court to plead for bail.
  • His attorney told the court that MegaUpload has nothing to do with the uploading of pirated films or video and that the U.S. government completely misunderstands the company's business.
  • Anne Toohey, arguing on behalf of the United States, told the court that DotCom was a significant flight risk and was in possession of illegal firearms when he was arrested, and alleged that he would be able to start up MegaUpload again if released.
  • Paul Davison told the court that DotCom can't go anywhere because authorities have seized all his assets. He said that DotCom's wife is pregnant with twins and asserted it would be impossible for DotCom to operate MegaUpload again. He also said his client would be willing to submit to electronic surveillance.
  • The judge said his decision would apply to all four men. He will keep them jailed until he makes his decision.
  • Megaupload has dropped Universal Music Group from the unlawful takedown lawsuit filed last month without prejudice. Leaving open going after UMG again and continuing to pursue 'John Does' for file removal, and acting for preservation fo records by Google.

• Supreme Court holds warrantless GPS tracking unconstitutional
• Warrants Needed for GPS Monitoring, Supreme Court Rules
• Why Supreme Court's GPS ruling will improve your privacy right
  • Supreme Court determined that the customary law enforcement practice of installing GPS trackers without judicial approval violates Americans' Fourth Amendment rights to be free from warrantless searches.
  • May affect decisions pending over tracking cell phones and other mobile devices
  • All 9 justices agreed with the decision though they reached the conclusion through different reasoning
  • Four justices focused on the physical trespass that occurred when the police attached the device, four focused on the violation of the suspect's "reasonable expectation of privacy," and the final justice, Sonia Sotomayor, endorsed both theories.
  • Scalia ruled narrowly "The government physically occupied private property for the purpose of obtaining information," Scalia wrote. "We have no doubt that such a physical intrusion would have been considered a 'search' within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment when it was adopted."
  • In a concurrence Justice Alito argued that extended warrantless tracking itself violates the Fourth Amendment regardless of whether the government committed a trespass to accomplish it." Justice Sotomayor [in a concurrence]: More fundamentally, it may be necessary to reconsider the premise that an individual has no reasonable expectation of privacy in information voluntarily disclosed to third parties. This approach is ill suited to the digital age, in which people reveal a great deal of information about themselves to third parties in the course of carrying out mundane tasks.

News Fuse

• Global Equities Research says more than 350,000 textbooks were downloaded from Apple's iBooks Store over the first three days of their availability. The iBooks Author app also racked up 90,000 downloads over the same time. Looks like a good start for Apple in textbooks.

• According to a filing with the Office of Public Records, Google spent $9.68 million in lobbying the federal government in 2011. Google's money went towards lots of things including renewable energy policies and online advertising regulation. In 2010, Google only spent around $5 million. As an aside, Microsoft spent $7.34 million on lobbying in 2011.

• Reuters reports YouTube streams 4 billion videos every day and 60 hours of video are uploaded every minute. Back in May 2011, Google saw a measly 48 hours of video uploaded per minute. YouTube's ads generated $5 billion in revenue for Google over the course of a year. Google picked up YouTube back in 2006 or $1.65 billion.

• The latest Pew Research report says 19 percent of American adults now own some kind of slate, which is almost twice the number that did before the holiday buying season. A mid-December telephone poll showed just 10 percent of US adults owned a tablet. It's an identical trend for ebook readers. 10 percent pre-holiday season, 19 percent in January. Owners of either a tablet or an ebook have gone from 18 percent of US adults to 29 percent in the same period.

• Facebook Director of Product Blake Ross and engineers from Twitter and MySpace released a new bookmarklet called "don't be evil" that will modify Google's search results to include more social networks other than just Google+. Available at FocusOnTheUser.org, when you click the bookmarklet after a Google Search you'll get results from Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and even Google+. The team open-sourced the code and in the video walkthrough encourages Google to use its code.

• AppleInsider says Apple will integrate 802.11ac in its products this year even though the standard is not set to be ratified until the end of 2012. 802.11ac allows for gigabit speeds wirelessly (in theory). In other Wi-Fi news, Microsoft said that Windows 8 will be able to connect to Wi-Fi networks in just one second. Microsoft says Windows 7 takes 12 seconds on average to connect.

• Windows 8 Promises 1-Second Wi-Fi Connections

• Bloomberg reports Nokia "probably sold 1.3 million units globally" of its Windows Phone-powered Lumia line since November. Bloomberg came up with that number by averaging 22 estimates which ranged from 800,000 to 2 million. Of course, these numbers are about shipments and not sales.

• A consumer group asked European regulators to stop Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility citing anticompetitive concerns. In its letter, Consumer Watchdog says that the combined company would "provide Google with unprecedented dominance in virtually all aspects of the mobile world." Regulators will make a ruling on February 13th.

• AT&T is ready to hand over spectrum to T-Mobile valued at $1 billion as a result of the proposed merger between the two companies failing, and once again the FCC decides the success of the transfer. The Wall Street Journal reports the companies need permission from the Commission in order to make the handover work out according to plan, though we haven't seen a specific deadline set for the transition.

Randomizer

• Violinist interrupted by Nokia ringtone, plays the ringtone

Calendar

• President Obama will host a Google+ hangout January 30 to address responses and questions to tomorrow's State of the Union address. Participants have until the 28th to submit videos to youtube.com/whitehouse, and the chosen ones will also be able to particpate live in the hangout itself.

• Apple set to announce earnings tomorrow, which will be the first period to include the iPhone 4S.. which went on sale in October. Apple's own estimates which historically are conservative, expect a revenue gain of 38% over the same quarter last year.

• ASUS promises the Transformer will get a Android 4.0 update in ‘mid-February’. It'll be a Valentine's miracle!

INCOMING

Email

"So - I have been thinking.... What would it take for Apple to take steps to allow people to get credits for the classes that they take on iTunes U? IF that could happen, then you could potentially see a worldwide shift in education, and a democratization of the concept...

Which - Is exactly what Apple does really well, right? Anyway, I am really enjoying rolling this concept around in my head, and I am very curious to hear your perspective on the matter.

Love the show - It makes me sound smart when I choose to engage in conversation with humans!

-John "Cannibal" Patsfield www.huntinghumans.com

(P.S. - That site right there - All Squarespace, all the time. Registered on Hover. And 99% of the content was created / posted on either my iPhone (3gs) or my iPad (gen 1) - Just sayin'....)"

Sponsors

Ford

• ad times: :35-:44 and 21:14-23:10

Production Information

• Edited by: Jason
• Notes:

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