Tech Talk Today

It starts with a bang! System76 shares their side of the Unity desktop breakup, its brutal and honest. It's just the first day of SCALE16x, and it's shaping up to be the biggest yet. Then McAfee buys TunnelBear, Netflix shares some data on you, and Ghostery goes open source.Sponsored By: Digital Ocean: Smash our promo code heresthething after you create an account, and get a credit on us! Promo Code: heresthethingLinks: Pop!_OS Weekly Update: 17.10 Beta & New Community... — System76 is happy to welcome our new Community Manager: Sriram Ramkrishna, or ‘Sri’ as he likes to be called! His role will be to help create and evolve strong relationships between our upstream projects and the Free and Open Source community as well as continue our fabulous relationship with our customers through our social media channels. Ad-Blocker Ghostery Just Went Open Source — Many of Ghostery’s users struggled to understand the company’s old, complicated business model. Oculus brings Rift VR headsets back to life with a software fix — The fix is available from the Oculus Rift website, and includes a certificate that hasn’t expired. Oculus thanked owners for their patience in a Twitter message today, and co-founder Nate Mitchell apologized for the embarrassing lapse. Mitchell also promised Rift owners affected by the issues “will be provided with an Oculus store credit.” McAfee acquires VPN provider TunnelBear — TunnelBear hadn’t taken on any known outside funding, so McAfee is unlikely to have broken the bank over this acquisition. However, TunnelBear had also previously revealed that it is profitable, so was likely in position to wait until the offer was right. Netflix data: 70 percent of viewing happens on TVs — Netflix says 70 percent of its streams end up on connected TVs instead of phones, tablets or PCs. Lawmakers approve year-round Daylight Saving Time. — Lawmakers agree for more daylight, but Gov. Rick Scott still must sign and then the U.S. Congress must pass a law to move the Sunshine State into Daylight Savings Time year-round.

California is ripping our rig apart, its the final big push to SCALE after four days on the road and we're determined to make it. We meet up with some friends, get our geek on, and conquer the road. Plus tech headlines, and more.Sponsored By: Ting: Take $25 off a device, or earn $25 in service credits if you bring a compatible one! Promo Code: Visit LAS.ting.comLinks: Oculus Rift is effectively bricked right now — First discovered in the Oculus Forums, the cause of this Oculus Runtime Service error is an expired certificate. Because Oculus failed to renew this certificate, the Oculus Runtime Service is being viewed as invalid. The only way to fix this is for Oculus to release an updated version of OculusAppFramework.dll with a new certificate. Once that happens, your Oculus services should return to normal operating speed. Android P Developer Preview arrives with new notification panel, notch support — However, device support for this release is pretty limited: you'll need a Google Pixel phone to play. The developer preview works on the Pixel 1, Pixel 1 XL, Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, and that's it. Pour one out for the Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, and Pixel C tablet, which were all part of the Android O developer preview but didn't make it to Android P. I actually confirmed this with Google—those three devices won't be getting Android P. Android P drops support for Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, and the Pixel C tablet Slack Gateways SCALE 16x JB Telegram Group

My first check-in from the road to SCALE, some quick headlines, and the start to the big adventure. Plus the Telegram outage, Google's good news, and more.Sponsored By: Linux Academy: Sign up with a free 7 day trial when you visit: linuxacademy.com/unplugged Links: Signal and Telegram are down for many users — You might want to move your private chats to WhatsApp or Telegram for the time being: it appears popular encrypted messenger Signal is currently down globally, according to numerous reports from users. Alexa has literally lost her voice as users report outages and unresponsiveness | TechCrunch — Amazon’s Alexa smart assistant seems to be down this morning. We’ve been hearing reports over the last hour of either delayed responses or just total loss of connection. Google Chrome: Flash Usage Declines from 80% in 2014 to Under 8% Today — The percentage of daily Chrome users who've loaded at least one page containing Flash content per day has gone down from around 80% in 2014 to under 8% in early 2018. SpaceX Fired A Rifle Into A Tank Of Helium To See If Someone Sabotaged Their Rocket | IFLScience — “We literally thought someone had shot the rocket,” CEO Elon Musk said in summer 2017, according to an excerpt from the book on The Washington Post. “We found things that looked like bullet holes, and we calculated that someone with a high-powered rifle, if they had shot the rocket in the right location, the exact same thing would have happened.”

Amazon's purchase of Ring reveals their deeper ambitious intentions for your home. And it goes way beyond package delivery. Plus Google's Slack competitor launches, Spotify's secrets revealed, and why 96.5% of YouTubers will fail.Sponsored By: Digital Ocean: Smash our promo code heresthething after you create an account, and get a credit on us! Promo Code: heresthethingLinks: Amazon to acquire Ring video doorbell maker, cracking open the door in home security market — The surprise acquisition marks the latest move by the Seattle-based tech giant into the smart home technology market. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Reuters puts the deal at more than $1 billion. Watch: “Shark Tank” judges reject Jamie Siminoff’s idea for Ring that Amazon just spent $1 billion — In his Shark Tank pitch, Siminoff said he was seeking a $700,000 investment for a 10% stake in his then-struggling startup—called DoorBot at the time—which he thought was worth $7 million. Hangouts Chat, Google’s Slack competitor, comes out of beta — For all intents and purposes, Hangouts Chat is Google’s take on Slack, Microsoft Teams and similar projects Spotify Files for Public Offering, to Be Listed As ‘SPOT’ — Spotify officially filed for a public offering with the Security and Exchange Commission on Wednesday. The music service intends to trade under the “SPOT” symbol at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) ‘Success’ on YouTube Still Means a Life of Poverty — In fact, 96.5 percent of all of those trying to become YouTubers won’t make enough money off of advertising to crack the U.S. poverty line Drones for Space Operations by Gateway Foundation — Kickstarter — Our primary mission is to develop drones to be used at the International Space Station to retrieve objects that drift away during spacewalks and repair activities by astronauts.

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. And that's just what we've been doing for the last five years, and we still haven't gotten it right. The big adventure is just 10 days away, and this time we're going in with a plan. Plus the dirty secret from Mobile World Congress 2018, Apple gets caught using Google's cloud, and finally a useful password tool.Sponsored By: Ting: Take $25 off a device, or earn $25 in service credits if you bring a compatible one! Promo Code: Visit LAS.ting.comLinks: Red Hat at Mobile World Congress 2018 — Connect with Red Hat onsite at Mobile World Congress 2018 to see why 100% of telecommunications organizations in the global Fortune 500 rely on Red Hat technology. Mobile World Congress 2018 | Ubuntu Insights — Today Canonical operates telco networks worldwide in partnership with leading hardware and NFV vendors . We’re also collaborating with institutions worldwide to build tomorrow’s applications on Ubuntu: blockchain, machine learning, robotics or autonomous vehicles… To make sure that your infrastructure will be future proof. FCC Will Auction 5G-ready 3.7-4.2GHz and mmWave Spectrum — Speaking at the Mobile World Congress today in Barcelona, Spain, U.S. FCC chairman Ajit Pai today announced that the commission is prepared to quickly make 5G-ready wireless spectrum available in two critically important ranges: Mid-frequency, including both 3.5GHz and 3.7-4.2GHz ranges, and high-frequency, including 24GHz and 28GHz millimeter wave (mmWave) ranges. Pai suggested that the FCC is ready to auction the spectrum in the near future, but requires Congressional cooperation by May 13 to make the 24GHz and 28GHz allocations happen. Samsung Galaxy S9, Nokia 8110: All smartphones unveiled at MWC 2018 — With 5G technology taking an increasing share of the spotlight, as top executives stress the importance of the next generation of mobile networks, smartphones are still very much center stage. How to find out if an old password has been stolen — The Pwned Passwords tool, integrated into the popular password manager 1Password, lets customers type in an old password and find out if it's been leaked in a data breach. Pwned Passwords — With Half a Billion Passwords for Download Apple confirms it now uses Google Cloud for iCloud services - The Verge — Apple has confirmed that it uses Google’s public cloud to store data for its iCloud services in its latest version of the iOS Security Guide last month, as spotted by CNBC. Apple confirms it uses Google cloud for some of iCloud | Hacker News — From Apple’s actual iCloud security document: > Each file is broken into chunks and encrypted by iCloud using AES-128 and a key derived from each chunk’s contents that utilizes SHA-256. The keys and the file’s metadata are stored by Apple in the user’s iCloud account. The encrypted chunks of the file are stored, without any user-identifying information, using third-party storage services, such as S3 and Google Cloud Platform. Vulkan is coming to macOS and iOS, but no thanks to Apple | Ars Technica — The open source, royalty-free release of MoltenVK—a runtime for macOS and iOS that offers an almost complete subset of the Vulkan API implemented using Metal. Released under the Apache 2 license Israel-Based Vendor Cellebrite Can Unlock Every iPhone, including the Current-Gen iPhone X, That's On the Market: Forbes - Slashdot — The Israeli firm, a subsidiary of Japan's Sun Corporation, hasn't made any major public announcement about its new iOS capabilities. But Forbes was told by sources (who asked to remain anonymous as they weren't authorized to talk on the matter) that in the last few months the company has developed undisclosed techniques to get into iOS 11 and is advertising them to law enforcement and private forensics folk across the globe. Indeed, the company's literature for its Advanced Unlocking and Extraction Services offering now notes the company can break the security of "Apple iOS devices and operating systems, including iPhone, iPad, iPad mini, iPad Pro and iPod touch, running iOS 5 to iOS 11."

Elon Musk bet the future of SpaceX on the Falcon Heavy launch. On Thursday SpaceX launched a pair of prototype satellites intended to form the basis for Starlink, a constellation of satellites that are designed to beam broadband internet down to Earth. But it almost didn't happen. Plus the tech news, Kickstarter of the week, and our plans for Season 1.Sponsored By: Linux Academy: Sign up with a free 7 day trial when you visit: linuxacademy.com/unplugged Links: Facts About SpaceX's Falcon Heavy Rocket — Musk first announced a bigger rocket — the Falcon Heavy — in 2011. At the time, he said the rocket would carry 117,000 lbs. (53,000 kilograms) of cargo to orbit — twice the capacity of the space shuttle. Musk also predicted the first Falcon Heavy flight would come in 2013. Fresh off Falcon Heavy, Elon Musk launches broadband test satellites - ABC News — On Thursday, SpaceX on Thursday launched a pair of prototype satellites intended to form the basis for Starlink, a constellation of about 11,000 satellites that are designed to beam broadband internet down to Earth. Amazon plans to open as many as six more cashierless Amazon Go stores this year — New futuristic convenience stores could appear in Seattle and Los Angeles. Since October, Apple Made Around 1,600 Accidental 911 Calls — “We’ve been seeing these calls for the last four months from Apple,” said police dispatcher Jamie Hudso Using a laser to wirelessly charge a smartphone safely across a room — The beam charges the smartphone via a power cell mounted on the back of the phone. A narrow beam can deliver a steady 2W of power to 15 square-inch area from a distance of up to 4.3 meters, or about 14 feet. Kitchen Robot with Multi-Zone Cooking & Refrigeration by Suvie — Gourmet meals from fresh, raw ingredients ready when you come home; designed by former Apple engineer, appliance expert & gourmet chef. Google plans deeper Assistant integration with phones and wireless carriers — The other two announcements being made today will arrive throughout the year: deeper integration between the Assistant and both smartphones and carriers.

In what might be the final Tech Talk Today, we discuss the continuing saga of exploding phones, the lows & highs of the iPhone 7, Google’s new apps, Logitech's new buy & Valve's ban hammer. Plus our Kickstarter of the week & an important production announcement!

Mario while you eat a hamburger, Note 7’s catching fire, Blue Hydra, a Stingray exposé & Netflix goes to war against data caps.

Another round of hack attacks, Apple could be hit with a major tax bill, Nexus’ devices get a big assist & SETI has observed a “strong” signal that may originate from a Sun-like star. Plus a striking Kickstarter of the week!

Was the NSA really hacked? Then some reflecting on Blackhat & Apple’s fight with the FBI in light of the recent leaks. Plus our first hands on with Android 7.0 Nougat & a Kickstarter of the week that’ll give you a real boost.

Google’s slowing its Fiber rollout, SpaceX has another success, Tesla has more miles & Adblock plus block Facebook’s Ad block. Plus a quick review of No Man’s Sky, the last VCR ships, listening to your hard drive & our Kickstarter of the week!

A data center fire grounds Delta Airlines, Apple launches a bug bounty, Facebook is killing Clickbait & the Android N bomb. Plus our kickstarter of the week & more!

A lot is happening in the world of Google this week & some of the new changes are big improvements for it’s users. Plus the new MacBook killer by Xiaomi that might really be killer & Washington State is suing Comcast. Plus a really neat Kickstarter of the week, local streaming to a Chromecast & more!

Yahoo might be turning into the next AOL, Cyanogen Inc switches to Apps, 3D printing finger prints to login, GPU power on demand & the farming Robot that can heal your garden shame. Plus Chris gets serious about sleep tech & our Kickstarter of the week!

Atom-sized storage could change the face of data and memory, Opera gets sold, Tesla is in some hot water, Netflix beams up Star Trek & hackers claim to have gone after Pokémon Go servers.