Radio Winnebago

Radio Winnebago
Number	2166
Broadcast Date	February 7, 2014
Episode Length	37:41
Hosts	Tom Merritt
Guests	Darren Kitchen, Len Peralta

Darren Kitchen joins the show to talk about NBC’s Sochi hacking report among other things, and Len Peralta illustrates the stories.

Guest

• Darren Kitchen
• Len Peralta

Headlines

• Kill Switch legislation to be introduced in CA

The LA Times reports California lawmakers led by State Senator Mark Leno plan to introduce legislation requiring devices like smartphones and tablets to be sold with a “kill switch” that would render them inoperable if stolen. Some devices, like the iPhone and the Galaxy S4, come with such features already. The carriers are lukewarm on legislating technology, but most are waiting to see the text of the bill before opposing or supporting it.

• Facebook lets you Look Back at your Look Back video (and edit)

TechCrunch reports Facebook has added an edit button to the “Look Back” videos it automatically created for most users in celebration of its tenth anniversary. The function lets you pick new photos and posts from a pre-populated list and no you can’t change the order. if you never got a video, then you also don’t get the edit feature.

• Nokia and HTC bury the patent hatchet

For all you people who complain that all we report is bad news, patent news, or both, here’s a ZDNet story for you. Nokia and HTC signed a patent and technology agreement that dismisses all patent litigation between the two companies. HTC pays a little money. The collaboration involves HTC’s LTE patent portfolio. Lawyers cash fat checks. Consumers get to buy phones. Everyone goes home happy.

• NSA metadata program collects less data than you might think

The Wall Street Journal has a new report, not from Edward Snowden leaks this time, that cites anonymous sources saying the NSA metadata program only collects data for 20 percent or less, because it doesn’t cover most cell phones. The Washington Post said even that smaller amount is still useful.

News From You

• October 2015: The End of the Swipe-and-Sign Credit Card

WSJ’s Corporate Intelligence blog, indicating that next year the US will joint the majority of the world in implementing a chip and pin system for credit cards and ditch the old signed receipts. Both MasterCard and Visa have set October 2015 as an important deadline in the switch. That’s the “liability shift” After that time liability for fraudulent transactions switches to the merchant unless they are using chip and pin.

Submitted by: jaymz668

• Comcast customer surprised to learn new router is also public hotspot

Ars Technica story of one Ronaldo Boschulte who got a new modem form his ISP Comcast, which unbeknownst to him, doubles as a public WiFi router. Comcast started adding the modems by default in mid-2013. Comcast reassures customers that their broadband connection will be unaffected, but if they REALLY want to switch it off, they can, they just have to perform the arcane ritual of self-immolation known as calling Comcast customer support.

Submitted by: MANAGEMIKE

• Mt. Gox Halts ALL Bitcoin Withdrawals, Price Drop Follows

Coin desk post that bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox paused all withdrawals yesterday while they tracked down an issue encountered by some bitcoin withdrawals. Not only that but they promised an update Monday. At least that’s Monday Japan time. Users with bitcoin withdrawals stuck in limbo started to receive their coins back in their Mt. Gox wallets this morning.

Submitted by: SkyJedi

Discussion

• Amazon Puts Image Recognition Into Its Main iOS App
• Apple buys back $14 billion of its own shares in the past two weeks for a total of $40 billion over the last 12 months
• Russian officials rule that BitCoin is a money substitute and can not be used by individuals and legal entities

Links

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

Preceded by: "Full throttle?"

Radio Winnebago

Followed by: "Flappy Drone"