Tech News Today 267

Tech News Today Episode 267

Tech News Today 267: Google TV Gets Sage

Skype firing execs, Facebook's Spotify plans, SageTV acquired by Google, and more.

Hosts

• Tom Merritt (@acedtect)
  • TomMerritt.com
• Sarah Lane (@sarahlane)
  • http://www.sarahlane.com
• Darren Kitchen (@hak5darren)
  • hak5d.squarespace.com
• Jason Howell (@raygun01)
  • http://www.jasonhowell.net/
• Tim Stevens
  • engadget.com

Topics

• Skype Fires Executives, Avoiding Payouts After Microsoft Buyout
• Microsoft gets antitrust approval to buy Skype
• Sony slips Skype on PlayStation Vita
• Why Skype just added deeper Facebook integration
  • Vice Presidents David Gurle, Christopher Dean, Russ Shaw and Don Albert were dismissed by Skype. Chief Marketing Officer Doug Bewsher and Anne Gillespie, head of human resources, Executives Ramu Sunkara and Allyson Campa, from the 2011 Qik purchase, were also let go.were also fired.
  • That means their stock options are worth less
  • The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said it approved the deal, according to a June 17 statement.
  • Sony will bring Skype to PS Vita as it did to PSP according to shots of a Sony presentation in Sao Paulo, Brazil, posted by GameGeneration
  • Skype also announced integration with Facebook. GigaOm suspets it may help Facebook raise it's numbers in places where growth may have stalled.

• Revealed: Facebook’s music plans involve Spotify, others
• Display's New Kingpin: Facebook's No. 1
• Rumor: Apple helping Facebook's 'secret' HTML5 project
  • GigaOm reports that Facebook is reaching out to Spotify and other music services for integration to be unveiled at the F8 developer's conference in August
  • A new tab called "Music" would be added to the left side, persistent play button, listing of recent songs and top tracks across services.
  • Facebook expected to book 2.1 billion in display ads, vs. Google's 1.15 billion and Yahoo's 1.62 billion
  • A new report claims Apple knows about and is lending support to Facebook's "Project Spartan" HTML5 web app platform, even as Facebook's PR team has attempted to downplay rumors of the project.

• SageTV HTPC software acquired by Google, next stop Google TV?
  • Google bought SageTV, independent DVR software since 2002.
  • Links to buy the software have disappeared.

Discussion Stories

• LulzSec Teams With Anonymous, In Operation AntiSec
• LulzSec hackers 'hit' UK crime agency Soca website
• LulzSec identities confirmed? Arrests imminent?
  • Anonymous and Lulzsec are teaming up on operation Anti-Sec, at least according to a LulzSec press release.
  • The operation's 'top priority is to steal and leak any classified government information, including email spools and documentation. Prime targets are banks and other high-ranking establishments. If they try to censor our progress, we will obliterate the censor with cannonfire anointed with lizard blood.'
  • First HIT: The UK Serious Organised Crime agency has taken its website offline after it appeared to be a victim of an attack by hacking group Lulz Security. Twitter post: "Tango down - in the name of #AntiSec".
  • Meanwhile E.J. Hilbert, the ex-FBI agent in question tweeted to say: "It appears that the identities of the heads of @lulzsec that have been shared with me have been confirmed. All things come to an end."

• Sega says 1.3 million users affected by cyber attack
• LulzSec Offers to Take Revenge On Sega Hackers
  • information belonging to 1.3 million customers has been stolen from a Sega database
  • Names, birth dates, e-mail addresses and encrypted passwords of users of Sega Pass online network members had been compromised
  • Yahoo reports "Sega - contact us," Lulz said in its Tweet to the video game developer. "We want to help you destroy the hackers that attacked you. We love the Dreamcast, these people are going down."

• New York Post Blocks iPad Browsing--Badly
  • Unfortunately for the NYP, this 'block' only works if iPad users are surfing in via Safari. Mini-browsers, like Opera Mini or Skyfire, work just fine.
  • Thank's for coming! NYPOST.com editorial content is now only accessible on the iPad through the New York Post App. If you are a current New York Post App subscriber, please visit the App Store and download the latest version to access NYPOST.com through the INDEX. If you are not a current New York Post App user and would like to subscribe, please download from the App Store. Thank you

• Bitcoin prices plummet on hacked exchange
• Inside the Mega-Hack of Bitcoin: the Full Story
• Huge Bitcoin sell off due to a compromised account - rollback
  • A fan wrote in about the hack - starred emails by Cyber Llama Email in comment by Faxmonkey & a correction
  • Sunday price of the currency on Mt.Gox, fell from $17 to pennies in a matter of minutes.
  • Trading was suspended
  • Database of Mt. Gox users was leaked online.The file included username, email address, and hashed password for thousands of Mt.Gox users.
  • The attacks have reportedly been traced to a Hong Kong IP, according to sources.

News Fuse

• We take no pleasure in telling you that another arm of Sony has been hacked. This time, two hackers by the handles of Idahc and Auth3ntiq stole over 177,000 emails from Sony Pictures France. The two claimed they used an SQL injection and posted 70 of the emails online. According to Attrition.org, this is the 20th Sony breach in two months.

• Cable giant Cox had been building its own cellular network for some time now, along with some novel wireless plans like refunding money to customers for unused minutes. Hope you didn't get too attached to the new wireless carrier because Cox's president said the company could sell its network to AT&T, Sprint or another competitor. After running some numbers, the cellular communications business apparently won't make Cox enough money for the company to continue competing.

• Congratulations to Japan for building the world's fastest computer. It's called the "K Computer" and its able to process more than 8 petaflop/s using more than 640,000 processing cores. The K Computer was built by Fujitsu and it's located at the RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science. The next fastest machine can be found in China and it only handles a pathetic 2.6 petaflop/s.

• The latest build of Windows 8 has some secrets in its code. There's a new virtual keyboard that integrates the Metro UI look. The Windows App Store may be able to unlock features within the Windows 8 operating system, which should mean you'd be able to upgrade Windows 8 from "Home" to "Pro" via the App Store. Also, Windows 8 looks like it may have geo-location and SMS support - two fine features to have on your wireless tablet.

• There's a new PlayStation! Don't get too excited, Sony has revised the 320GB PS3's internals by shaving 400 grams off - that's a little over 14 ounces. This new slimmer PS3 also uses less power running at 200W compared to the 230W of the previous version. You can identify the new PS3s by the model number of CECH-3000. If you're holding off for that PS4, Sony exec Jack Tretton says it's not coming "for quite some time."

• ThisIsMyNext reports that Android 3.2 will be the last point update to the Honeycomb version of Android. Android 3.2 brings support for 7-inch screens, better hardware acceleration and run on Qualcomm and Nvidia's Tegra 2 processors. After 3.2, Google is onto Ice Cream Sandwich which mashes together the tablet and phone versions of Android - like a sandwich.

• Bloomberg reports that Sprint & LightSquared have signed a 15 year deal to share network expansion costs and equipment. The deal is rumored to be worth about $20 billion. This team-up will put together a nationwide LTE network that Sprint could use and LightSquared can license to other carriers as well. LightSquared has also announced that it's taken care of that whole GPS-jamming issue it had with a two-fold solution, so its network ought to be online as planned.

• If you've ever wanted to order a head of lettuce from Amazon.com, you might be able to if you're in Seattle. Amazon is currently testing a grocery delivery service called "Amazon Fresh" in select neighborhoods in Seattle. Jeff Bezos says the company is still trying to figure out if Amazon Fresh will go beyond the testing stage because it's an expensive service to provide and at the end of the day, Amazon is about being profitable.

Randomizer

• Hybrid rocket / seaweed jet ready to fly in 2050, keep emissions above ozone (video)

Calendar

• New Top-Level Domains were approved by ICANN today, as expected. Get your $185,000 out and fill out the paprwork and dot-poopyhead could be yours to administer.
• HP TouchPad goes up for pre-order starting at $500, will be available July 1
• MSI's Windows 7 tablet, the "WindPad 110w" is listed for $599 pre-order at JR Music World, is brown
• Today is the last day to file replies to oppositions to FCC over ATT T-Mobile merger
• Firefox 5 is up for download, and goes official tomorrow June 21
• Commodore USA begins shipping replica C64s next week, fulfilling your beige breadbox dreams (video)
• Verizon tiered data plans coming July 7, starting at $30?

Email

"Helloooooo TNT Crew,

I was watching Friday show in which the end of Andriod tablets was reported. I just bought the new Galaxy tab and its awesome. But can't help but to notice that it looks and feels like the iPad 2. Even though I like the Tab it doesn't feel as complete as the iPad 2. What does that mean?, I don't know its just a feeling just go with it.

I do agree with Jason and Sarah points that because there were floods of tablets in the market, it was saturated with more bad tablets than good ones. I can see why Google wanted to take control of this before it got out of hand. Sarah made an excellent point about manufacturers like RIM and other Tablet makers maybe taking their time in producing such devices. This then made me think about all the criticism that the tech industry has given Microsoft about not having tablet strategy, when its apparent that they are taking their time in developing a rich experience with a great ecosystem behind it. I currently own A Windows Phone (I know I know, I just love new tech) and I think they did a good job. If this is what they produce when they take their time then I rather have that then a piece of junk.

Thanks guys never missed a show Cris Somers,NY"

"Hey folks, a very quick comment on the Amazon book spam from Friday. There is an easy fix, they just need to change the economics. If they charge a fee to publish the book and then slowly credit the money back as the book sells they could quickly make the spam unprofitable. That gets them out of the business of judging content and lets the market decide.

Take care and keep up newsing the tech!

Jason in Austin"

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Production Information

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