Tech News Today 119

Tech News Today Episode 119

Tech News Today 119: Your Resistance Is Futile

One hundred naked citizens, Schmidt shows off the Nexus S, RIM takes aim at Apple

Hosts

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

Top Stories

• One Hundred Naked Citizens: One Hundred Leaked Body Scans
• -FDA sidesteps safety concerns over TSA body scanners
• -Can the internet bring down the TSA’s new enhanced pat-down search, also known as “touch my junk”?
• -Man faces $11K fine for refusing TSA screening
• -3 year old searched by TSA (sent by Raj)

• The Nexus S: a closer look [1] [2]

• Carriers creating Isis mobile payment network(link from the idea of Nexus S having NFC)
• -Schmidt: Google Chrome OS 'a few months away'

• RIM Attacks Apple -- Makes Video Showing PlayBook Browser Is Way Faster Than The iPad's (link to another device that may have NFC)
• -Jim Balsillie says BlackBerry PlayBook has a 'module cavity,' hints at NFC capabilities
• -"You don't need an app for the Web"

Other Stories

• Clues suggest Stuxnet Virus was built for subtle nuclear sabotage

• Google Accuses China of Violating W.T.O. Rules on Internet Access
• -China Hijacked 15% of US Internet Traffic-and no one noticed

• Beatles albums offered on iTunes
• -When Does Amazon and Everyone Else Get the Beatles? Good Question.
• -Sirius tries to upstage iTunes with McCartney news
• -Forget the Beatles, Garth Brooks still AWOL on iTunes

• Windows 8 to showcase 'desktop as a service'?

News Fuse

• Facebook is carding people- well kind of, and accidentally. it seems that a bug on the site caused thousands of users- strangely reported to all be female users from logging into their accounts. To reactivate them, they were asked for a scan of a 'government ID' which sounds so scammy, but it IS one of the most extreme measures facebook takes to reinstate accounts when they've been hacked. It's thought this is bug was related to the new email service rolling out, but all facebook is saying is it's been fixed

• Galaxy Tab, the Android-based tablet has been hacked to support voice calling, a feature that was available on the International version, but not available with the device in the US. The XDA Developers folks took the files from the international Galaxy Tab (P1000), and flashed them to the T-Mobile Galaxy Tab. Voila. Calling enabled.

• iPhone fans finally get something other mobile OSs have had for awhile, an official Google Voice app. A few weeks after third-party versions hit the iTunes store, Google Voice arrives with call and text support, push notifications, and voicemail access (including transcriptions). It's available right now in the US for iPhones with iOS 3.1 or higher.

• The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA)is back. If passed the federal government could order ISPs not to resolved domain names for guilty sites as well as order ad services not to be sold to those sites and credit cards not to be authorised. The bill was delayed in September after an outcry from activist groups, but the lame duck Senate Judiciary Committee will look at the bill on Thursday.

• Chipzilla reports that Intel will launch ts next generation of Sandy Bridge processors at its CES press conference on January 5th. Intel exec Mooly Eden will take the stage to show off the "world's fastest processor" as well as technologies that "enhance visual life." No word on any announcements regarding Light Peak.

• Engadget reports a new LG phone will feature an 8 megapixel camera, 1080p video-recording, dual-core smart phone running stock Android. It's expected early next year, as the very first dual-core Android handset,and will bring NVIDIA's Tegra 2 into the smartphone realm. Engadget's tipster says the phone is codenamed Star internally

• Microsoft says it has sold 1 million Xbox Kinects in 10 days, giving the company a boost as the holiday shopping season approaches Microsoft says it's on track to sell 5 million units of the hands-free, motion-sensing controller by the end of the year.

• Finally, Google is taking on Yelp? Google unveiled an early version of Hotpot in a blog post yesterday, a tool designed to recommend restaurants or stores you might want to visit. Hotpot attempts to convert the recommendations of your connections into advice for you. Your own recommendations and warnings will be used as signals to determine which establishments are presented to your friends

• Proposed Final ACTA Text Published

Calendar

• Walmart launches Black Friday barrage early, $69 Wi--fi Blu-ray player + $10 Vudu credit. $89 DS Lite

• 50 inch plasma - panasonic $699 prediction

• Best Buy TV 46 inch samsung 120 hz $797, the 46" or 47" 1080p LCD HDTV. prediction $499

• Expect to see a 55" 1080p LCD TV for $799. It should have a 120Hz or 240Hz refresh rate: not samsung toshiba vizio, LG (not sony or samsung

• Best prices on TVS: December (2007 & 2008) or January (2009)

• Best buy nook 149 down to 99, Flip cam 149- 99, 15 inch sony laptop 3 gb memory $399

• Nook Color now shipping to early birds, limited retail

Email

"Hi crew,

This one's for Becky (re question about 120 vs 240 hz seeing as i'm responding to here request, us I'm sitting in her favorite recording studio - the united lounge @ SFO.

Beckster-

I've worked in both video production and post for the past 15 years. What is it I 'see'? I notice gamma shift difference, odd minor aspect ratio distortions, texture of the video image based on the noise filters that were applied, and of course, big things like poor macroblocking due to low bit rate encoding (most often seen on cable's lower tier channels where they are trying to saving $ on transmission). As for my home screen, I'm currently sporting a Samsung 52"" LCD that's 3 yrs old or so. It does have 240, but I find the grain at the frame rate distracting for most primetime content, so it's typically parked @ 120 til we watch a movie or sports worthy of the doubled framerate. In regards to quality of image, I'd rate from best to worst currently as :

OTA HD primetime content (18 Mbps MPEG2) Dish HD (not sure, but I gotta believe it's 10-12 Mbps H.264) DirectTV HD (not sure anymore - was MPEG2, but I think they made the h.264 switch last year Comcast HD (Portland Area- milage will vary elsewhere) Time Warner HD (NYC and Durham, NC - again, YMMV)

Hope this helps and keep up the good work!"

Voicemail

• Adrian: Set top boxes.

Sponsors

Ford Fiesta

• Drive One #3
• ad times:  :33 - :49 and 17:34 - 19:03

Gazelle

• Gazelle.com offer code TNT
• Gazelle #5
• ad times:  :49 - :59 and 29:16 - 31:08

Production Information

• Edited by: Jeff
• Notes:

This area is for use by TWiT staff only. Please do not add or edit any content within this section.