Charge and Not Catch Fire
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| Charge and Not Catch Fire | |
| Number | 2466 |
| Broadcast Date | APRIL 7, 2015 |
| Episode Length | 41:01 |
| Hosts | Tom Merritt |
| Guests | Patrick Beja |
Patrick Beja talks with us about Connecticut’s ‘pole neutrality’ plan for gigabit fiber, and how John Oliver may have pointed the way towards explaining other tech and security topics.
Guest
Headlines
- Tech Crunch reports that HBO Now is available from Apple and Cablevision. The new service, announced back in March, provides access to HBO’s entire streaming content library, as well as new shows as they air for $14.99/month. If you sign up now you get one free month. Unlike HBO Go, the service doesn’t require a user to subscribe via their cable or satellite TV provider.
- Business Insider has a screenshot of what appears to be a memo from Apple’s SVP of Retail and Online Sales that reads, “The days of waiting in line and crossing fingers for a product are over for our customers.” It asks employees to encourage customers to order the Apple Watch and new MacBook pro online. The source who leaked the memo says UK shoppers will ONLY be able to order the Watch online.
- The Next Web brings us the news that Twitter is expanding the “Quote Tweet” button. Once the update rolls your way, the RT button will now embed the tweet instead of just quoting it as text, leaving you 116 characters with which to comment. The new Quote Tweet button is rolling out to iPhone and Web users now and Android users in the near future. And according to TNW, there are plans for Twitter’s API to support the updated feature.
- TechCrunch reports Xiaomi is changing its ways in India. The company will allow Amazon India and SnapDeal to sell Mi products online. Flipkart already does so. Physical stores from Airtel and The Mobile Store will carry Mi products as well.
- The Telegraph reports that an Australian court ordered local ISPs to turn over details of thousands of customers who’s IP addresses are associated with Torrents of the film Dallas Buyers Club. The ISPs argued it would be “Economically pointless” for the producers to try recover the value of each copy of the movie valued at less than $10 Australian, and that a single sliver of the film was shared from each IP address meaning copyright infringement was minor.The judge disagreed and felt deterring piracy was important enough to issue the order but limited what the plaintiffs could do with the information. Peter Wells wrote us about this and pointed out that ” any letters sent to customers will need to be court approved – so no one gets a terrifying email.”
- Susan Crawford has an interesting post on BackChannel describing how the US state of Connecticut plans to roll out gigabit fiber to its citizens. The key was requiring owners of poles to obey a Single Pole Administrator to open up pole access. Participating cities then proposed ways they could aid fiber rollout like expedited permitting and now are considering responses. The New England Cable Television Association claims Connecticut already has adequate capacity and the plan would cost taxpayers.
News From You
- Rdmag.com reports that Standford professor, Hongjie Dai and his colleagues have developed rechargeable aluminum batteries that use graphene foam for the cathode to make a safer alternative to lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries. The new aluminum battery prototype has shown “unprecedented charging times” of down to a minute and charge-discharge cycles of more than 7500 times. A lithium-ion battery lasts for around 1000 cycles. The capacity per weight is no betetr than lead acid which is significantly lower than lithium ion.
- Submitted by the_corley
- Ars Technica reports that newly elected board member of the Bitcoin Foundation, Oliver Janssens, declared the group effectively bankrupt in a blog post. He wrote: “Members have a right to know that the current board failed to tell them the truth, and that their way of running the organization resulted in it going bankrupt.” The non-profit’s 2013 tax filings showed it ended that year with more than $4.7 million in total assets. No 2014 financial details have been released.
- Submitted by KAPT_Kipper
- Engadget reports that this Friday the Star Wars movies will be available as digital downloads through iTunes, Google Play, Xbox, Playstation, Vudu and others. Extras will include featurettes for each film and interviews with key contributors. The complete set is listed on Vudu for preorder at $90, and Google Play lists each movie for $20 each. And yeah, they’re the special editions.
- Submitted by GeekCitizen
- Android Central reports that Amazon finally supports Android tablets for Amazon Prime Instant Video in the UK. Amazon Prime came to tablets in the US last week. Users have to get the app from the Amazon App store which has to be installed by allowing non-Google Play store apps.
- Submitted by dmmacs
Discussion
- Snowden shows John Oliver how the NSA can see your dick pics
- Why do people ignore security warnings when browsing the web?
Pick of the Day
- For a very well done “parody” Twitter account, I suggest that everyone check out @SwiftOnSecurity. She hits all the major nerd buttons: Info Sec information that rivals HAK5 (a tall order) with a lot more snark; pithy warnings about the rise of the machines and their inevitable dominion over us clueless humans; and some great links. I look forward to her tweets every day.
- Submitted by Mike from lovely (and very, very dry) Fremont, CA
YouTube
Links
| Preceded by: "PC Pick-up Sticks" |
Charge and Not Catch Fire |
Followed by: "You Had Me at Scrolling" |