Patrick Beja is in today, to marvel over the Pebble Time and its record-breaking Kickstarter. Is the Pebble bigger and/or better than the Apple and Android watches?
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Show Notes
Today’s guest: Patrick Beja, DTNS Contributor and Independent podcaster
Headlines:
Pebble launched a new watch called Pebble Time on Kickstarter this morning raising $1 million in 49 minutes, the fastest Kickstarter project to get to a million ever. The watch features a color e-ink screen, a microphone and a new interface called Timeline that shows information in chronological order rather than in an app interface. Kickstarter backers get a discount and should start receiving watches in May. The rest will pay $199 at retail a few months later.
Microsoft launched a new OneDrive API on GitHub according to VentureBeat. The new API works across Windows, Android, iOS and the web and improves on both speed and functionality. Feature highlights include the ability to resume upload files of up to 10GB, customizable thumbnail images for files, and ability to keep large sets of files synced with minimal calls.
GigaOM reports that Steve Perlman’s Artemis Networks is building a network using its pCell technology to cover most of San Francisco with unlimited LTE data and voice using Dish Network’s spectrum. The ultimate goal is to sell the technology to carriers. To that end, Artemis will sell the Artemis I Hub to let carriers test pCells in their own networks. Artemis is also releasing a detailed white paper this week to answer questions about how it has made the tech work. For San Francisco’s test, Artemis needs core infrastructure an MVNO agreement and FCC approval to be able to sell SIM cards by Fall.
TechCrunch reports that voice and SMS company Twilio has acquired two factor authentication company Authy. About 6,000 sites use Authy. Nothing will change for Authy users for the moment. Twilio users will soon have an easy way to add two-factor authentication to their Twilio-powered services.
It’s a bad day for people who want to post nude pictures of other people. Google announced that starting March 23 users of its blogger service will not be allowed to share images and video that are sexually explicit or show graphic nudity. Such blogs will be made private so only trhe admins can see them. Exceptions will be made for material that “offers a substantial public benefit, for example in artistic, educational, documentary or scientific contexts.” Meanwhile Engadget reports Reddit’s latest security policy prohibits posting photos or videos of naked people or people having sex without their consent.
OMG Chrome reports Google’s Renee Niemi announced that a second generation Chromebook Pixel will go on sale “soon,” but that Google would only make a small number of them. The Pixel laptop is aimed primarily at developers, and won’t be marketed to regular consumers. The laptop will reportedly keep the 12.85-inch screen, feature reversible ‘Type-C’ USB ports, and may be the first device to ship with Chromium’s new “Freon” pseudo-display server replacement.
The Verge passes along The Hill report that FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn would like to see some adjustments made to Comissioner Wheeler’s proposal for Open Internet Rules. Apparently Clyburn takes issue with the provision that could allow Title II regulation to be applied to interconnection agreements between ISP’s and content providers like Netflix. Clyburn would prefre the regulation be limited to only the explicitly mentioned relationship between consumers and ISPs.
ReCode reports Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz took to Reddit for Ask Me Anything. It did not mean he would answer. Among the teases about his mysterious product Abovitz said Magic Leap would mean the world would no longer need physical screens, laptops, smartphones or even smartwatches. He also indicated steroscopic solutions to VR like Oculus and Project Morpheus may be unsafe. He also said Magic Leap hopes to get prototypes in developers’ hands this year.
News From You:
djsekani sent us this story from USA today about the US’s 9-1-1 emergency network’s problem reliably locating calls that come from cell phone. According to the story 911’s chance of getting a fix on your location ranges as low as 10% to as high as 95%. The FCC is working in conjunction with the 4 largest cellphone carriers to address the issue including new rules for carriers to transmit location data, with deadlines for delivery of location data for 40% of cellphone calls by 2017 and 80% by 2021. The problem is that the 911 system relies on the carrier to locate the phone while apps like Google and Facebook use a phone’s GPS.
starfuryzeta wants you to know that the next Uber may be…Waffle House? The Verge reports that the US diner chain is partnering with a company called Roadie, that lets travelers earn money by delivering packages. Users can now meet at the company’s 1750 diners across the US. Drivers making deliveries will get a free waffle and drink.
habichuelacondule sent us the Reuters report that The National Association of African-American Owned Media filed a $20 billion lawsuit Friday in Los Angeles against Comcast and Time Warner Cable for allegedly discriminating against African American-owned media and paying advocates from the African-American community to prevent them from interfering. The same group filed a $10 billion lawsuit in December against AT&T Inc and DirecTV. Both suits come in relation to proposed mergers.
Discussion Section Links:
Pick of the Day: Ninite
It’s a good time to remind people that it is safer to update you JAVA and other free apps using http://ninite.com instead of SOME of the native update programs. Notably the JAVA updater installs adware and or toolbar software.
Your patron,
Steve in the OC
Wednesday’s guest: Chris Ashley, co-host of the SMR podcast
Tom and Patrick…
Re: 911 and location, in the US wireless carriers do provide a location read with each 911 call from a mobile device, and of course accuracy varies considerably. Also, if a call is disconnected for whatever reason, the ability of a 911 center to “rebid” varies quite a bit. In many cases, e.g., with dropped calls, the 911 center needs to follow a process with each carrier to get the location of a call after disconnect. This takes time. And, with IP based 911 features coming online, new standards are in the works. The National Emergency Number Association (NENA) is driving a lot of the standards in the US.
Plug: my employer, Rave Mobile Safety, makes a product called Smart911 (http://smart911.com) that allows citizens to opt-in to share additional data with 911 when they call, including the ability for 911 to initiate text chat, and to rebid user location if the user has allowed this. Smart911 also allows the creation of an informative “safety profile” (free of charge to citizens) so that you can inform first responders of specific life issues that matter – helpful for people with disabilities, non-native speakers, families supporting Alzheimers patients or other medical conditions. It also allows you to specify entry ways, and other critical information that can save lives by speeding up response or helping non-responsive callers who may be choking or in the midst of a crisis such as a fire.
Smart911 is now available in over 1,000 911 centers nationwide, and takes just a moment to set up. It has saved lives, and information entered becomes available nationwide to any center using Smart911. I guess you could call this my “pick.”
Thanks, Scott
Regarding Pebble pre-announcing, they had a pretty aggressive pre-announcement campaign. The send out email messages saying they had an announcement coming up, with the time and date and, while I didn’t see it myself, a friend told me their web site had a big countdown clock as well. It’s was probably the best publicized Kickstarter in history.