Tech News Today 128

Tech News Today Episode 128

Tech News Today 128: Toothless Rules

Wikileaks gets the boot, Xbox modding judge gets mad, ipv4 runs dry, and more.

Hosts

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

Top Stories

• Wikileaks kicked out of Amazon's cloud
• Wikileaks DDoS Attacker Arrested, Equipment Seized

• Verizon's LTE details go live: December 5th, 38 markets, 60 airports, and 2 USB modems
• Verizon LTE plans start at $50/month for 5GB of data (update)
• Now that things are fast, which fast is the best value?

• FCC scheduled vote on net neutrality this month
• Wireless gets a free pass on net neutrality
• Good summary of industry group reactions

Discussion Stories

• Google Editions E-Book Store Coming This Month

• Groupon expansion plan: Groupon stores, Deal Feed
• Groupon acquires development firm Ludic Labs
• Groupon May Be Fastest-Growing Company Ever

• Jury Seated in Landmark Xbox Modding Trial, trial starts today Wednesday 12/1
• ...That is until Judge berates prosecution and puts trial on hold

• The privacy backlash has apparently been heard. The FTC has proposed letting online consumers choose whether they can be tracked. They are calling the strategy "privacy by design" and will mandate more transparency from online companies using private data. They are taking comments on the proposal over the next few months- what do you think? A few folks at facebook and google getting their comment ready now?

News Fuse

• Windows Home Sever is under seige. The appliance is meant to be an easy way to share fils over your home network. However Microsoft caused controversy when it recently removed DriveExtender from the product, which provided an easy way to plug in hard drives to add more storage space. Now HP has said they will not sell Home Server anymore when the new software, the one without drive extender, is finally released.

• While it sometimes seems that everybody has a smartphone, Nielsen has released numbers that only a third of US consumers actually own one. in 2008 it was a tenth of the population had a smartphone and the company predicts by Christmas next year, half of all us consumers will have them. The iPhone and Blackberry are tied for most phones in use, but the iphone gets the nod for the most desired smartphone. StatCounter released their numbers today to, granting Symbian number one in usage worldwide, with iOS second.

• Do 140 characters equal 4 billion dollars? that's the speculation in the valley today as a bidding war is on for part ownership of Twitter. the company is raising more venture capital and investors who want in on the deal, apparently want in bad! John Doerr of Kleiner perkins is upping the ante against a russian firm that already has a stake in Facebook, Groupon and Zynga. So as the VC pissing contest goes- so goes the perceived value of twitter.

• Yesterday we told you about WinAmp's bid to bring wireless syncing to your Android device. Now you have another option. DoubleTwist, another iTunes-like piece of software is also launching wireless sync, which they’re appropriately dubbing ‘AirSync’. You'll need SoubleTwist on your PC and their android app on your phone. Still no wireless sync options for iOS.

• A new hack that would allow you to add any app you want to a Windows Phone has been killed in the cradle. ChevronWP7, was released late last week and offered non-developers a way to install unofficial apps onto Windows Phone 7. ChevronWP7's creators say they pulled the program in order to fasttrack discussions on an official home brew program. Holind breath starting.... now.

• For netflix, the major tipping point for them may be their access to movies straight out of the theaters and getting those movies before they run on Cable. getting a step closer they have inked a deal with a major indie film studio, Filmdistrict. The studio is currently in production on films with actors like Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan, and it looks like those films will hit the streaming service before HBO right after the box office

• When we talk about malware and use the term trojan- you think 'nefarious script that comes in the guise of other software' right?. Well security researchers from Secure Network Technologies went old school with the concept- they dressed in the uniforms of I.T. service technicians, walked into an unnamed company's premises with trojan horse access points superglued into a printer, connected it to the network, and got behind all the corporate perimeter defensess- Kevin MItnick's gotta love this one!

• More rumours are spreading about the so-called PlayStation Phone. A blurry Grecian video shows what is reported to be called the Sony Ericsson Z1 in action. The Yeti-like video shows a phone with a 4-inch screen running Android 2.3. Whatever it is, it's definitely a phone that can play games. No video of the slide out controller rumoured to be buried in the back.

Kickers and Weird Science

• "Hire me or eat sh*t": accusations fly over DIY P2P defense kits

Calendar

• Dell Venue Pro finally available to order: $99 on contract, shipping December 9th tmobile, like BB torch with slide down keyboard, 4.1 inch screen

• Global pool of IPv4 addresses set to run dry in weeks

• Youtube's new ad formats hit today

• Be a part of TNT this holiday season!

Voicemail

• RapidEye: Comcast and Level3

Email

"Hey TNT Crew,

I was driving home from a trip to Normandy France this weekend and stopped at a Shell station along the A4 French Highway. The credit card machine was having serious problems for the person in front of me, so the clerk reached down beneath the counter. A few seconds later I saw the OS2/WARP splash screen go across the computer monitor. I must have stood there in awe for 2 minutes watching the computer boot.

Only in France do operating systems never die! I just couldn't believe it, a circa 1994 OS still alive and kicking on the French roadside! Anyway, I thought Tom would get a kick out of my story!

Cheers! Kory K - Landstuhl Germany" http://www.digibarn.com/collections/screenshots/IBM%20OS2%20Warp%204/index.htm

"Holographic world cup?

You may have seen this already. I'm only halfway through yesterday's podcast. However I thought the idea of a holographic world cup played in other stadiums was a pretty neat idea.

Doug from VA" http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/11/30/japan.world.cup.bid/index.html

Sponsors

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Production Information

• Edited by: Jason
• Notes:

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