Tech News Today 237
Episode 237 |
Recorded: May 6, 2011 Published: May 6, 2011 Duration: 42:51 |
Contents
Tech News Today 237: Lawyers Are Just Loaded Guns
Third Sony hack coming, Bandwidth caps under fire, Apple to ditch Intel for ARM?, and more!
Hosts
Top Stories
- Sony offers identity theft protection, little news on PSN relaunch
- Exclusive: Third attack against Sony planned
- Howard Stringer's Letter
- Important Step for Service Restoration
- PSN network members will be given a year of identity theft protection from Debix inc.
- Sony will email you a code. You have until June 18 to sign up
- "Today our global network and security teams at Sony Network Entertainment and Sony Computer Entertainment began the final stages of internal testing of the new system, an important step towards restoring PlayStation Network and Qriocity services," - Patrick Seybold
- Sony CEO posted a letter explaining the delay and apologising... again. Observers of an IRC channel told CNET a third attack planned this weekend
- say they are in control of some of Sony's servers
- plan to reveal some or all of the data they possess
- 56% of Americans have Internet data caps; FCC asked to investigate
- Letter referenced in Ars piece cites this as its source for the 56% #
- New America Foundation and Public Knowledge have asked the Federal Communications Commission to investigate Internet data caps in the US—with a special focus on AT&T.
- Report: Apple to ditch Intel for ARM in MacBooks
- Source of the report
- SemiAccurate reports sources tell it Apple will move to ARM within two or three years potentially coinciding with Nvidia's release of Project Denver CPU's.
- The move would happen for MacBook and MacBook Pros
- Software incompatibility an issue
- IDC said ARM will own 13 percent of PC processor market by 2015.
Discussion Stories
- IDC says smartphones grew 79.7%, Apple takes #2 spot behind Nokia
- Nokia Is Now Number-Two In Its Home Market, Thanks To Samsung and Apple
- IDC worldwide numbers for Q1 put Apple as the number 2 smartphone vendor, passing RIM
- HTC, Samsung and Apple showed triple-digit growth in smartphones
- In Western Europe, Apple is now the number one smartphone maker and Samsung the number one phone maker, Nokia sunk to number two in both categories.
- Google, Facebook: "do not track" bill a threat to California economy
- Google, Facebook, Time Warner Cable, CTIA - The Wireless Association, the California Chamber of Commerce, and about thirty other associations and companies sent letter protesting California's do not track bill (Senate Bill 761)
- Bill would force California companies to provide a method for consumers to opt-out of data collection
- Companies claim existing laws already protect consumers
- Points out browsers already have do not track capability and are coopertaing with FTC on self-regulation
- Warn legislation would hurt the economy
- Call the legislation unconstitutional because of interstate commerce concerns. Finally warn black bats of vampiric doom will steal all of our children.
- App stores march toward shared ratings system
- CTIA launched near end of March a ""voluntary self-certification of apps"" a
- App makers would be asked to define content in their creations based on a set of ratings and guidelines
- advocacy group ACT said its 3,000-member association of software developers believed the initiative could stifle innovation and interest in app development.
- Morgan Reed, ACT's executive director. ""If it's a CTIA self-derived push, that seems like an intermediary regulator. A preferred model would be the ESRB, which is funded and managed by game developers. ESRB's rating system is actual self-regulation.""
- ESRB is already putting in place a self-rating system for downloadable games"
- Demand Media in Demand After Content-Quality Pledge
- Demand is planning to hire more-experienced writers to produce articles of as many as 850 words, for $350
- The company made the announcement on a conference call with Wall Street analysts Thursday evening
- On Google's algorithm change (Panda) CEO Richard Rosenblatt: “It seems like they put the best content up to the top and penalized the lowest-quality content… Everything seems to be running through their system like it should.”
- Demand sites plummeted 20-40 percent after Panda
- Demand said that it would shut down the user-generated content program on its eHow website."
News Fuse
Kickers
- The 4-D cinema seats that move you in time with the action
- The effects, carefully synchronised to the action, range from 'intelligent vibrations' to a popcorn-throwing jolt backwards if a character is punched on screen. At the moment D-Box seats are available in just 70 cinemas across the world, and he has yet to obtain a contract with America's two biggest cinema chains, Regal Entertainment Group and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.
Calendar
- Tomorrow, May 7 is Free Comic Book Day, so find your nearest comic book store and go to town
- Nexus S 4G launches on Sprint Sunday May 8
- Long Lines Greet Apple iPad 2 Launch in China
- you can start sharing Gears of War 3 beta invites beginning Sunday May 8
- HTC Flyer begins shipping on May 9th across Europe
- and next week, CEOs from the big wireless companies will testify on Capitol Hill for and against the proposed $39 billion megamerger between AT&T and T-Mobile USA.On Wednesday, the CEOs of and T-Mobile USA will argue in favor of the merger in front of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing called "The AT&T/T-Mobile Merger: Is Humpty Being Put Back Together Again?" CEOs for Sprint Nextel and regional carrier Cellular South will be there to testify against the merger.
- Also next week are the highly anticipated mobile privacy hearings with Apple and Google. Get your Star Trek jokes ready everybody! Apple is sending Bud Tribble, Apple's vice president for software technology.
"Hi Tom I am an avid listener to TNT. I tend to download a week's worth at a time and then listen them as I ""enjoy"" my weekly commute to and from the West Country.
It is becoming ever clearer to me that the biggest inhibitor to growth and innovation in the USA is lawyers. Listening from across the Atlantic to the news of one law suit or claim or patent infringement or another on a day by day basis makes me realise why my gadgets cost so much. It is nothing to do with research and development costs, manufacturing costs, or marketing - it is about clawing enough money from the poor suckers that buy the gadgets to pay the parasitic lawyers that seem to dictate and control everything you do. Has anyone in the US done any research to calculate how much they cost the consumer each year?
Isn't it about time for a revolution?
Andy (The Gorsefox)"
David Braben has developed a tiny USB stick PC that has a HDMI port in one end and a USB port on the other. You plug it into a HDMI socket and then connect a keyboard via the USB port giving you a fully functioning machine running a version of Linux. The cost? $25.
The hardware being offered is no slouch either. It uses a 700MHz ARM11 processor coupled with 128MB of RAM and runs OpenGL ES 2.0 allowing for decent graphics performance with 1080p output confirmed. Storage is catered for by an SD card slot. It also looks as though modules can be attached such as the 12MP camera seen in the image above. - the moke"
Sponsors
Netflix
- Netflix.com/twit
- netflix-1
- ad times: :35-:45 and 10:26-12:11
Production Information
- Edited by:
- Notes:
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