Project Fi’s Big In Japan

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Project Fi’s Big In Japan
Number 2855
Broadcast Date SEPTEMBER 13, 2016
Episode Length 48:49
Hosts Tom Merritt
Guests Patrick Beja

iOS 10 arrives, Samsung solves its battery problem, and Tom Merritt talks with Patrick Beja about his experience roaming on T-Mobile and Project Fi while in Japan and Korea.

Guest

Top Stories

YouTube launched a Community tab in beta for a limited number of creators Tuesday. Bruce Schneier wrote a column to alert people that some organization has been conducting calibrated denial of service attacks against key pieces of Internet infrastructure in a pattern that looks like probing defense capabilities. In other words someone is trying to learn how to take down the Internet. Now here are some more top stories.
Apple made iOS 10, tvOS 10 and watchOS3 available Tuesday. iOS 10 runs on the iPod Touch 6th generation, iPhone 5 iPad Mini2, iPad 4th gen and newer. It features a redesigned control center, new lock screen, widget screen, Siri SDK for devs, Home app for HomeKit and more. The Messages app now has an app store to buy stickers and other enhancements. WatchOS3 brings battery life enhancements app caching and instant launch. tvOS 10 brings Siri integration and a dark mode and supposedly single sign in though it does not appear to be available at launch. But before you rush to update: Some users reported their iPhones went into recovery mode when attempting an OTA update to iOS 10. Apple told Rene Ritchie it had an issue in the first hour affecting a small number of users but it is now resolved. If you were affected Apple recommends completing the update through iTunes.
AdBlock Plus is opening an ad marketplace that allows website to choose "acceptable" ads that will replace allegedly ugly or intrusive ads for users of AdBlock Plus. Acceptable ads do not track users and are limited in dimensions and page location. Publishers get 80% of the revenue, AdBlock Plus keeps 6 and the rest goes to ad-serving companies. The Ad marketplace launches in beta today.
Submitted by Oscar_Buzz_Out_Loud
Samsung thinks it knows why its Note 7 batteries are at risk of fire. Bloomberg says that in a report to South Korea's technology standards agency, Samsung concludes a production error placing pressure on plates in battery cells brought negative and positive poles into contact causing excessive heat. Samsung says it needs more analysis to determine the exact cause. Samsung also announced a software update for unreturned Note 7s will come September 20 and limit the devices to 60% charge capacity. Samsung will switch battery suppliers for the new replacement Note 7a. China's Amperex Technology Limited AKA ATL, will become the main supplier. ATL supplied 30% of the Note 7 batteries previously with Samsung's own SDI subsidiary providing the majority. ATL also supplies parts for Apple. ATL is owned by Japan's TDK.
Sony's PS4 update version 4.00 codename Shingen released Tuesday. Menu screens get a tweak, users can organize things into folders and the PS4 can now play games in HDR and stream games to YouTube and Twitch in 1080p. The new slimmer PS4 comes out Thursday the 15th and the 4K-game capable PS4 Pro arrives November 10.
Back on August 18 we told you about the US Department of Commerce's decision to transition the IANA which runs the domain name system, to a multi-stakeholder model, while still under ICANN. Since then some in the US Congress have been pushing forward a bill to keep the IANA under US control. Tuesday a letter signed by several tech companies including Google, Facebook, Amazon and Twitter called it "imperative" that Congress not delay the planned October 1st transition. Senator Ted Cruz will hold a hearing Wednesday to review the transition, which Senator Cruz has called a "giveaway of our Internet freedom."
On Monday The US House passed a bill that would make it illegal for companies to put provisions in customer contracts that prevent customers from sharing honest opinions. The Consumer Review Fairness Act would nullify non-disparagement clauses give the FTC the authority to take action against their attempted use. The Senate passed a version of the bill in 2015. It now goes back to the US Senate for reconciliation before being sent to the President.
Submitted by anotherjmartin

Discussion

  • Tom's report on roaming with T-Mobile and Project Fi in Japan and Korea

Messages

Hi Tom and crew

I’m eligible for my yearly phone upgrade later this month and I will be getting a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 despite the bad press. I see no reason to avoid it when it has the hardware feature set I want and the monthly Android security updates which I see as a critical feature. Products get recalled all the time, the problem gets fixed and the product goes back on sale. I don’t see this a being any different.
Sent by Nik


I work for Samsung in a retail location. I don't think the Note brand is going away any time soon. The Note series engenders the kind of fanaticism that the iPhone does. We have had the majority of people with the phone state they want to stay in the Note line. It is to the point that our store even has more Note 7s on reservation (waiting for the good batch to be released), than it does iPhone 7s on preorder. There will surely be a dip in sales, most likely multi-year, but I personally don't think it is going to disappear.
Sent by anonymous


Hi Tom

I heard you briefly talk about Rovi and TiVo on Monday’s podcast and commented that TiVo is too expensive.

I wanted to give some additional background that might be relevant for the product development at TiVo going forward. In May 2015 TiVo bought Cubiware,... Cubiware is well known in the industry for delivering fast and reliable user interfaces on cheap chipsets and set-top-boxes. They have already started to integrate the search and recommendation engine from TiVo with their own middleware technology in order to deliver the TiVo “experience” (meaning the logic that makes TiVo good) to set-top-boxes targeting the more price sensitive markets. Adding the patents from Rovi into this mix will only make them even more interesting going forward. I do believe that TiVo will develop a more affordable set of products and service offerings after the resent acquisitions.



Press release on the TiVo acquisition of Cubiware: http://blog.tivo.com/2015/05/tivo-acquires-cubiware/

About Cubiware: http://www.cubiware.com/company-overview/



And for full disclosure, I work in Conax a company partnering with Cubiware/TiVo delivering pay-TV solutions across the world. I do not have any insights into TiVo plans, strategy or future product development and these comments are purely based on my knowledge of the industry.



Best regards
Sent by Magnus, the marketing guy from pleasantly chilly Norway

YouTube

Links



Preceded by:
"Samsung Is On The Note-Fly List"
Project Fi’s Big In Japan
Followed by:
"The Eagle Has Landed On The Drone"