VPN Phantom of the Opera
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VPN Phantom of the Opera | |
Number | 2741 |
Broadcast Date | APRIL 21, 2016 |
Episode Length | 42:35 |
Hosts | Tom Merritt |
Guests | Justin Robert Young |
Opera’s making a free VPN built-in to its browser. How’s that going to sit with governments? Including the one that governs the Chinese companies trying to buy Opera? Justin Young and Tom Merritt discuss.
Guest
Headlines
- Opera has added a VPN service to the desktop browser available in its developer/alpha channel. The VPN is free and has no limits on usage with servers in the US, Canada and Germany. It only directs browser traffic through Opera servers not all traffic on the machine. Opera says it will collect feedback from the developer channel with the aim to roll out the VPN service to all users including on mobile. In fact Opera says its iOS version will offer VPN for all apps on the device.
- Submitted by FranzGames and lokirobert
- Last year Google started listing what app or service carried a TV show or movie you were searching for. Google announced it will now add live TV listings to search results as well. Users will be able to add their TV provider to customize the results further.
- Comcast announced its HTML5 Xfinity app is coming to Samsung Smart TVs and a custom app is coming to Roku. Subscribers to Comcast’s Xfinity cable service can access the channel guide, cloud DVR, and live and on -demand TV. Comcast believes this shows the FCC does not need to mandate set-top box compatibility. The FCC told the Verge the new app does not "integrate or search across Comcast content as well as other content consumers subscribe to."
- Sony told Polygon, "In order to further safeguard our users and their accounts, we are preparing to offer a 2-step verification feature.” Details will come at a later date. A PS3 update Tuesday mentioned two-factor authentication after an incorrect login, though no such feature is yet available. Polygon points out it was five years ago yesterday that the PlayStation Network was hacked and shut down for 23 days.
- Acer announced several new products at a press event in New York. here’s the quick rundown. The Switch Alpha 12 is a fanless skylake-powered laptop with a detachable keyboard and kickstand. The Predator 17X gaming laptop has a Geforce GTX 980 video card. The Predator G1 gaming desktop can come with Titan X graphics and up to 64 GB of DDR4 RAM and support for VR. The Chromebook 14 has gorilla glass and can survive 48-inch drops. The Xplova X5 bike computer has a camera that comes on at preset speeds and heart rates. The Liquid Leap Fit promises 10 days of battery life. The 5.5-inch Liquid Zest Plus smartphone has a 5,000mAh battery for 2 days of usage for less than $250. ONLY TWO MORE! The S13 laptop has 13 hours of battery life and optional touch screen starting at $699. And the 15.6-inch R15 convertible has 12 GB DDR4 RAM and Geforce up to 940MX. Hat tip to CNET's Dan Graziano who did a stellar job covering and summarizing this avalanche.
- A Massachusetts judge has thrown out evidence obtained by the US FBI by hacking a site and hosting its illegal images for two weeks to collect IP addresses and inject visitors with malware. The reason for throwing the evidence out is important here. The FBI got a Network Investigative Technique warrant to do all that it did from a magistrate judge which the court ruled did not have jurisdiction to issue the warrant. The Massachusetts decision points out they could have got the warrant from a district judge.
- Submitted by Jsnphil
- US District Judge Charles Breyer said Volkswagen Group would buy back nearly 500,000 2.0L diesel vehicles which had software that illegally disabled the emissions control system. Details will be worked out over the coming months in order settle some 600 lawsuits against VW Group. Volkswagen will also set up a fund for people who bought certain diesel cars to offer substantial compensation on top of the car buyback program and a fund to invest in green technology.
- Australian Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull announced Australia plans to spend A$230 million on 33 cybersecurity measures that would involved a 100 new jobs, moving the Australian Signals Directorate outside of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization to ease coordination with business.
- UK Transport minister Robert Goodwill says it has not been confirmed a UAV struck British Airways Flight BA727 this past Sunday. “… the early reports of a dent in the front of the plane were not confirmed - there was no actual damage to the plane and there's indeed some speculation that it may have even been a plastic bag or something.”
- Reuters reports that Thursday night, US FBI Director James Comey was asked at the Aspen Security Forum in London, how much the FBI paid for the technique to unlock the iPhone 5C in San Bernardino California. Comey replied, “More than I will make in the remainder of this job, which is seven years and four months for sure.” Reuters is good at math and according to the US Office of Management and Budget, Comey will make $1.34 million over that time.
- Microsoft reported its 3rd financial quarter of 2016 earnings of $22.1 billion with $0.62 adjusted earnings per share. Analysts expected an earnings per share of $0.64 on just under $22.1 billion. Microsoft’s own guidance suggested revenue to be between $21.1 billion and $22.3 billion. MS stock is down close to 5 percent in after hours trading.
- Alphabet reported Q1 earnings of $7.50 on $20.3 billion in revenue, up from $17.3 billion same quarter last year. However analysts expected $7.96 on$20.38 billion in revenue. Stocks are currently down 5% in extended trading.
- Prince was the first to release in album exclusively online. He gave away 2 million copies of his album Planet Earth in 2007. Then sued the Pirate Bay and sending cease and desists to YouTube and fan sites. He declared the Internet dead in 2010. Prince announced in August that his next album is exclusive to Tidal. The news came this morning that Prince is dead at age 57. The Internet responded with nothing but sadness, love, and appreciation for his music.
Discussion
- Opera bundles free, unlimited VPN client into its browser
- Free VPN integrated in Opera for better online privacy
- Opera's 'universal right' pledge leads to world's first VPN-embedded browser
- Opera 32: Privacy is a universal right
- Chinese firms extend deadline on $1.28 billion offer for Opera Software
- Frequently asked questions
Pick of the Day
- Hello Mr. Merritt,
If you are looking for a secure IM client, Tox is a great solution. It supports end-to-end encryption and makes use of the Tor network. It is supported on Windows, Linux and is currently in beta for iOS and Android.
I have been using this application ever since it was launched and I can't recommend it enough. Please take a look and see if it is worthy of sharing with your listeners.
Also, thank you for an amazing show. Keep up the great work! - Submitted by AZ
- Hello Mr. Merritt,
Messages
- Hi Tom-
Your discussion with Scott today on the rumored elimination of the mini-jack got me thinking on a key advantage for eliminating it- and all other ports while we're at it- resilience.
Hear me out- most "ruggidized" phones have rubber stoppers over their ports to prevent water from entering the chassis. Apple, notorious for blazing ahead and eliminating floppy drives, optical drives, and ports on its other products, might point to wireless connectivity and wireless chargers as a way to streamline the phone, make it less likely to short from water exposure, and have a unique phone that stands out the competition. I would imagine a port might be hidden in the chassis for repairs/service. When is the last time an iPhone user plugged their phone in for anything other than charging?
Thanks for the great show! - Sent by Mike in Ridiculously Beautiful DC
- Hi Tom-
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