Peering into the Rift

Peering into the Rift
Number	2176
Broadcast Date	February 21, 2014
Episode Length	38:00
Hosts	Tom Merritt
Guests	Ashley Esqueda Darren Kitchen Len Peralta

Ashley Esqueda and Darren Kitchen join to get pumped for the Samsung Galaxy S V, buyout a Chevy’s, and divine the release date of the Oculus Rift by reading the entrails of an Oculus Rift. Also Len Peralta will illustrate the show.

Guest

• Ashley Esqueda, @AshleyEsqueda
• Darren Kitchen
• Len Peralta, @LenPeralta

Headlines

• Apple acquires Burstly TechCrunch reports

Apple acquired Burstly, the company that owns analytic tool FlightPath and the app TestFlight which lets developers distribute their apps to beta testers before they submit it to the app store. TestFlight plans to end support for Android app testing as of March 21st. Shocker.

• Samsung: Number 5 is Alive. (Also, wet.)

TechCrunch reports on Samsung’s teaser video promoting its upcoming February 24th announcement. The video shows a lot of people having fun doing things that involve phones somehow along with suggestive words like “Alive” and “Wet” all accompanied by the number 5. SO CRYPTIC SAMSUNG! I’ll be joining Cali Lewis and John P. for the GeekBeat.tv coverage of the event Monday at 2 PM Eastern.

News From You

• DirecTV CEO urges U.S. scrutiny of Comcast-TWC broadband reach

DirecTV Chief Executive Officer Mike White rather unsurprisingly has called for close scrutiny of the proposed Comcast-Time Warner merger, and the effective broadband monopoly it would create. But White didn’t exactly say he’s against it, just that his company has not decided what position to take, and wants to make sure it’s appropriately scrutinized.

Submitted by: Normgregory

• Broadcom's new chip brings GPS to smartwatches without killing the battery

Broadcom’s new BCM4771 Global Navigation Satellite System System on a Chip. What does that mean in English? Better battery life for wearables like smart watches that want GPS built in. The 40-nanometer construction and new sensor hub also make it more accurate. Broadcom will show it off at Mobiel World Congress next week.

Submitted by: habichuelacondulce

• Lovefilm Instant becomes Amazon Prime Instant Video in the UK

European streaming service Lovefilm will become part of Amazon’s Prime subscription in both UK and Germany starting Feb. 26th, under the new name Prime Instant Video. The Prime service which still gives one-day shipping will jump from £49 (€29) to £79 (€49). Existing subscribers won’t have to pay extra until the next time their subscription is up. Lovefilm will continue to run a DVD rental business.

Discussion

• Oculus Gearing Up to Host its Own VR Convention, ‘RiftCon’
• Amazon getting ready to launch an Internet video streaming box?
• Google acquires Spider.io
• Fitbit issues a voluntary recall of the Fitbit Force following reports of skin irritation
• Nvidia announces the Tegra Note 7 LTE for $299
• Korean Messaging Service Kakao Gets Ready For A $2 Billion IPO
• Jolla’s Sailfish OS and smartphones are commercially ready and heading into new markets
• Oculus, not just for games

Pick of the Day

• AllCast

I recently discovered an app that allows me to use my Google chromecast to play videos stored on my android device.

The free application is called AllCast. It is available on the playstore. A review can be found at Digital Trends

Ron Kehn

Links

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

Preceded by: "What’s Appening?"

Peering into the Rift

Followed by: "Samsung has a Fit"