Twitter's mortal struggle

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Twitter's mortal struggle
Number 2304
Broadcast Date AUGUST 20, 2014
Episode Length 50:46
Hosts Tom Merritt
Guests Jeff Cannata

Jeff Cannata is on the show. We’ll talk about Twitter’s new policy of removing photos of dead family members and how it ran right into free speech issues with the videos of reporter James Foley’s death.

Guest

Headlines

CNET reported on Barnes and Noble’s announcement of the Galaxy Tab 4 Nook, essentially the same hardware as the 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 4, but with Nook’s custom interface. There is only one model with 8 GB of storage though the Tab 4 does have an SD card slot. The other diffeerence is the price. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 lists for $199. Adding the Nook to the end reduces that to $179 after an in-store rebate. Barnes and Noble intends to separate the Nook business from its bookselling business.
Engadget reports Uber has launched a free API, allowing programmers to embed the ability to hail a ride from within any app. 11 partners are alongside for the launch, mostly travel services like TripAdvisor, United Airlines and Hyatt Hotels. Other apps like Starbucks Coffee shops or dating site Hinge are also on board. Most of the apps will start by just passing an address to the Uber app, but truly embedded ride hailing is on the horizon with a subset of partners.
On Tuesday Twitter implemented a new policy of removing images of deceased individuals at the request of family. That policy, created in the wake of Robin Williams death, was put to the test immediately when a video of the killing of journalist James Foley was put online. Various account have been suspended in relation to the Foley imagery. The video created by the Islamic State not only runs afoul of this new policy but also could bring Twitter into laws against providing aid and comfort to organizations identified by the US government as terrorist.
Engadget reports the effect of competition is being felt in Apple’s backyard. AT&T announced it would bring its Gigapower brand gigabit Internet to Cupertino, California in a few months. Google intends to bring gigabit Internet to the nearby larger metropolis of San Jose but has not announced a timeline.
Wired reports Vine announced new tools for the six-second video service. Users can now add video from their device rather than shoot all video in the app. Other features include a duplicating button, a mute button and “torch” mode which lets you use a phone’s flashlight while recording. Vine says more than 100 million people watch Vine videos every month.
The Wall Street Journal reports Amazon plans to set up operations in Shanghai’s free trade zone, allowing it to sell more merchandise for overseas in China. Amazon will also open a logistics warehouse in China to expand exports of goods from Chinese companies. Alibaba is the dominant eCommerce power in China.

News From You

The Ars Technica article that Netflix and Time Warner Cable agreed to an interconnection agreement in June. GigaOm noticed evidence of a deal in traceroutes and a Time Warner Cable spokesperson confirmed it. Netflix has struck deals with Comcast, AT&T and Verizon for interconnection, similar to deals struck by many companies who deliver large amounts of data, like Google, Facebook and Apple.
Submitted by KAPT_Kipper
The Engadget story that Brazilian judge Paulo Cesar de Carvalho of the 5th Civil Court of Victoria has issued an injunction against the app Secret. Brazil’s consitution bars anonymous attacks that do not allow you to defend yourself. Not only will Google and Apple need to remove Secret from the Brazilian app stores, but the judge ordered them to delete it from users phones as well. Microsoft was ordered to remove a similar app called Cryptic. The companies have 10 days to comply or face fines of 20,000 Reals per day.
Submitted by funkaround
Verge reporting Verizon will launch its own app store, at least that’s what subscription-only outlet The Information claims. However Verizon spokeswoman Debra Lewis told Re/code about an app store: “We have no plans to do that. Been there. Done that.” Verizon closed its Verizon Wireless app store last year.
Submitted by sdc111
Bloomberg got cozy with a person involved with the investigation of the Community Health Systems breach, the one that saw 4.5 million health records stolen, and got the person to admit that the attackers used the Heartbleed vulnerability. This would be the first known breach of a company using that well-branded vulnerability.
Submitted by Inge_Aning

Discussion

Plug of the Day

As you know, I podcast as a hobby, and like many people in the business world, I’m on Skype and Hangouts daily for conference calls and meetings as part of my day job. I’d like to recommend a Mac utility called Push To Talk. Push to Talk adds a software-driven mute button to your Mac. You can define your own key combination to use, and it mutes your mic input system-wide so you don’t have to go fumbling for the mute button on Skype or Hangouts. You can also configure it so that it only transmits when you hold the keyboard combination you’ve defined, but I find the toggle setting most useful. It’s available in the Mac App Store, and it costs just $0.99. Pro tip: I’ve found that I needed to reboot for the utility to function properly after installing.
Submitted by Richard Gunther

YouTube

Links



Preceded by:
"Uber wants to grab your package"
Twitter's mortal struggle
Followed by:
"Cloudy with a chance of ads"