The Sixth Estate

The Sixth Estate
Number	2706
Broadcast Date	MARCH 8, 2016
Episode Length	43:44
Hosts	Tom Merritt
Guests	Patrick Beja

Tech companies like Google and Facebook make more money than most countries, have user bases bigger than China, and can often affect your daily life more than your government. Patrick Beja and Tom Merritt discuss whether we should treat these companies like countries.

Guest

• Patrick Beja
  • Patrick's Patreon

Headlines

• Feds: New judge must force iPhone unlock, overturning ruling that favored Apple

Unsurprisingly, the US Department of Justice has asked a district judge to countermand Magistrate Judge James Orenstein’s decision that the All Writs Act could not be used to compel Apple to assist unlocking an iPhone 5S in a New York drug case.

• Microsoft is bringing its database software to Linux

Surprisingly, Microsoft announced it’s making a version of its SQL Server database that will run on Linux. A preview version is now available. The full release is expected sometime in mid-2017.

Submitted by KAPT_Kipper, silva42, and GreggN

• FCC to propose monthly broadband subsidy for the poor

The US FCC is circulating a proposal among members for a $9.25 monthly broadband internet subsidy for low income households. According to the NY Times the proposal is part of a larger $2 billion overhaul of the FCC’s Lifeline Program that subsidizes phone service for the poor. A third party would vet applications to prevent abuse.The Lifeline Program changes will be voted on March 31st.

• Toyota develops wearable device for blind people

Toyota announced Project BLAID, a program to develop a device worn around the neck to give blind and visually impaired people greater mobility. The device features voice control and cameras that can recognize things like stairs, doors and signs. Haptic feedback guides the user to their destination. Future plans include the addition of mapping, object identification and facial recognition.

• The IRS has finally taken its failed identity protection service offline, after a hack by identity thieves

Last week the US Internal Revenue Service issued PINs to 2.7 million people as one measure in response to an attack that accessed 700,000 US taxpayer records last year. Now the IRS has ended the PIN system after attackers accessed PINs 800 times and used them to file fraudulent tax returns. It used knowledge-based authentication but the information, like former street addresses, can be found online. The IRS says it is reviewing the system.

Submitted by spsheridan

• Skype's live translator feature now supports Arabic

Skype added Modern Standard Arabic as the eighth language supported by its real-time voice translating service. To try it, click the globe icon in Skype for Windows desktop.

• Google AI begins battle with humanity’s best Go player tonight

Tonight. All Systems are Go. The board game, Go. A battle for the soul of the machine in Seoul, Korea. DeepMind’s AlphaGo with a mix of deep neural network machine learning and tree search techniques, versus Go champion Lee Se-dol with the asymmetric cognitive power of the human mind. At stake £700,000. Watch live, 4 AM GMT March 9 on YouTube.

• Amazon job posting reveals it's forming a VR team for Video

UploadVR noticed that Amazon has posted a job opening on Glassdoor for a senior software development manager of virtual reality for Amazon Video in Santa Monica. The description says, “The Virtual Reality team will explore and create the platform and interface for immersive storytelling. This will include an ingestion and playback platform for Virtual Reality experiences.”

• Tovala smart oven is Blue Apron for people who don’t actually want to cook

The Next Web writes about Tovala’s convenient meal prep Kickstarter A smart oven can read barcodes on food and then steam, broil, bake or use convection to heat at the right temp for the right amount of time. An app alerts you when a meal is ready as well as adjust cooking presets for non-Tovala meals. Meals are designed to cook in 15-30 minutes. You can get the oven at the early bird price of $199 plus shipping. It is expected to retail for $329.

Discussion

• If Apple were a country…
• Apple’s record value is bigger than all but 19 countries’ GDP
• are we citizens of facebook - Google Search

Pick of the Day

• PicPick

I've got a pick - a screen cap utility called PicPick -

Nothing new, for sure, and this isn't a new one, but I just discovered it, and I'm really liking the way it works.

Capturing is extensive and simple, and the editor is excellent - plenty of options, and a good variety of output options (including to an FTP server!)

I've used a lot of these over the years, and this is my favourite so far, and it's free for personal use.

cheers,

Submitted by Mic in Melbourne

Messages

Wanted to comment on the weeks old story about whether Amazon would open physical book stores, now the article below shows one of their test stores in operation up in Seattle, but I just discovered that we are getting an Amazon Book physical store here in LaJolla right next to the Apple and Tesla stores in a place called UTC near the University which is part of the Westfield mall franchise.

http://www.geekwire.com/2016/amazon-open-second-physical-bookstore-san-diego/?mc_cid=8c52491bac&mc_eid=e8f03faa7c

Thought I'd bring it up since I remember we ended up on the realization that Amazon wouldn't be opening stores but to see them actually doing it here in San Diego. I'll take photos and report on it once it opens.

Sent by Michael

Tom,

I signed up for Project Fi in December and bought a Nexus 6P to replace my Galaxy S3. It is working out well for me. I use very little cell phone data. In fact, I had a $9.20 data usage credit on my last invoice. I have all my music on my phone and download podcasts from WiFi before I leave the house. If I should ever be in a situation where I need to use a lot of data, I feel I've saved enough already on data usage to go well over the prepaid limit and still be ahead. It's become a game to see how small I can get my data usage without experiencing any inconvenience. Another plus is that i don't have to worry about the strength of the cell phone signal if WiFi is available. It uses WiFi for calls and text when available. My only concern is that Google has a bad habit of canceling services at times.

Sent by Bill Burlingame in Huntsville, AL

If you sign up, you'll lose your Google Voice (it will become your Fi number). You also gain some extra features in Hangouts (Android and Web). Your voicemail will show up as a transcript in Hangouts now (like they did in Voice, but you don't have a separate app or web page open).You can also send SMS and make phone calls (via VOIP) from Hangouts on your desktop.

The customer service is phenomenal, which based on Google's past, can be surprising for some. I had some issues with my initial set up, but when I needed customer service there was always someone standing by to chat or call me back (usually immediately). They were responsive and worked hard to ensure that my problem was resolved.

The service itself is on par with my T-Mobile and in some areas better. All in all, I can't complain and would recommend it to anyone in a heartbeat.

Sent by Mike aka gadgetchaser

Lamarr mentioned on yesterday's DTNS discussion about e-mails about having one address/number (eg. based on identity number) that gets to the person no matter the format...

You can guess from the theme of my e-mails that yeah, Estonia already does that

In the Estonian State Portal (eesti.ee) you can enter the email address you primarily use, and then all e-mails sent to [personal identification code] @ eesti.ee or [name].[surname].[n] @ eesti.ee (n = number if more than 1 person has that name) are forwarded to the email that the person actually uses.

And this is used by the government. If there's any official documents related to the person, they are uploaded to the portal and the person gets a notification to their entered e-mail. When the person opens the document in the portal it is considered as received, and (most importantly) will not be additionally delivered on paper.

So for example during elections you would receive the voting card (which is info on what voting station and when) via e-mail and not on paper

In addition all companies get [company registry code]@eesti.ee and [company name]@eesti.ee and the same sort of notifying is applied.

(Oh, also you can enter your phone number for SMS notifications)

Sent by t2t2

• Terms of notification service of eesti.ee

Links

• This episode on dailytechnewsshow.com
• Support DTNS on Patreon
• DTNS subreddit

Preceded by: "Email Is Where It’s @"

The Sixth Estate

Followed by: "Astronaut Prime"