Episode 356 – Aussie Tech Heads Shownotes

posted in: Show Notes

GLENN’S SHOWNOTES

Betting on Microsoft’s new CEO

Steve Ballmer, 57, unexpectedly announced his retirement last Friday after more than three decades at the world’s largest software company, including 13 years as chief executive.

 

Ballmer who will depart within the next year,

 

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is ranked as a 50/1 shot to return to fill the void but he is considered more likely than rank 100/1 outsider Tim Cook, CEO at Apple.

 

a British bookmaker putting Nokia’s Stephen Elop as the favourite.

 

Internal Microsoft candidate Kevin Turner, chief operating officer, is second favourite with odds of 6/1

 

In third is former Microsoft executive Steve Sinofsky, who left the company last November.

The top female candidate in the stakes is internal head of devices and studios, Julie Larson-Green, in fourth place.

 

Microsoft’s market value soared from $269.81 billion to $288.05 billion in the wake of the news that Microsoft’s chief executive Ballmer will “retire.”

 


Hardware partners get Windows 8.1

 

Microsoft has released Windows 8.1 to manufacturers, but developers will have to wait until it’s in the hands of consumers before they get to test their apps against the final code. released on 18 October

 

Microsoft generally lets TechNet and MSDN subscribers download operating system releases as soon as they hit the “release to manufacturing” (RTM) milestone, so that partners and developers can get a head start on testing the OS with apps and hardware.

 

Developers are infuriated  – most comments summed up in this one

 

We don’t care about a couple of bugs in your OS, we [care] about bug[s] in our software. Most of us actually want to support Windows 8.1, a lot of us want to get apps ready for the awesome 8.1 features, but we can’t properly do that unless we get the RTM bits before the public gets the Windows 8.1 update!”

 


 

You could be wearing Google Glass as early as next year

According to Glass enthusiast Robert Scoble, Google is planning to rent 6,000 square feet inside every Best Buy retail store in the US next year so that it can display, demo and sell Google Glass to consumers. At the moment, only Glass Explorers (who have paid US$1500 for the privilege) are using Google Glass, leaving normal tech-heads in a permanent state of envy.

There’s no specific time frame for the release mentioned as of yet

 

But wheels are in motion?

 


 

Apple opens iCloud suite to all

Apple has opened its iWork for iCloud productivity applications to the public, allowing anyone with an Apple ID to access the beta web-based versions of Pages, Numbers and Keynote.

iWork for iCloud was announced at Apple’s developer conference in June, and has been available for developers since then.

Apple has not said when it will come out of beta.

 

iWork for iCloud offers web-based versions of Apple’s productivity suite — the Pages word processor, Numbers spreadsheet application, and Keynote presentations app — which have traditionally been available as offline applications on Apple desktop and mobile hardware.

 

Apple offers 5GB free storage for iCloud.  Pages, Numbers and Keynote each cost $20.99 in the Mac App store and $10.49 each for the mobile versions.

 


 

One developer built a third of BlackBerry apps

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins boasted in May that there were 120,000 apps for BlackBerry 10, in an attempt to drum up developer enthusiasm for the OS.

What he didn’t mention was that more than 47,000 come from one developer, Hong Kong-based S4BB Limited

 

A quick glance at the developer’s most popular apps show a range of low-grade apps – including one dedicated entirely to turning off your phone’s camera shutter noise, and the aptly named “Mega Fart”.

S4BB describes its BlackBerry software as “market leading”.

 

Google Play also offers S4BB apps, though only 81 out of Android’s total of more than one million apps. Apple also has close to one million apps in its App Store, with none from S4BB.


 

China hit by ‘biggest ever’ cyber-attack

China has said it has suffered its “biggest ever” cyber-attack, causing many websites based in the country to go temporarily offline.

The distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack was said to have targeted servers responsible for sites with a “.cn” domain name.


Facebook to compensate users for sharing details on ads

Approximately 614,000 Facebook users whose personal details appeared in ads on the site without their permission will each receive a US$15.

 

The names and pictures of an estimated 150 million Facebook members were used in Sponsored Stories, but only those who responded to an email from the site earlier this year will be compensated.

Privacy organisations will also receive some of the $20m

The court estimated that Facebook had made about $73m (£47m) in profit from the Sponsored Stories featuring details of the 150 million members.

 

Approximately 7,000 Facebook users opted out of the settlement altogether, allowing them to bring their own legal action against the social network.


 

Tweets printed by home-built ticker-tape machine

The ‘twittertape’ device was built from scratch using second-hand parts from clocks and other sources, said creator Adam Vaughan.

The wooden base hides a thermal printer and a micro-controller, he added.

Mr Vaughan spent three months assembling his version of the machine but admits a lot of that time was devoted to finding the right parts.

I built it all from scratch after finding some examples online.”

 

The device connects to a computer via an ethernet cable and pulls data from Mr Vaughan’s Twitter account every 30 seconds.

Any future versions could include a control panel so that the owner could programme the machine to print from a particular hashtag or from multiple accounts, he added, but his project has hit a snag.

“Nowadays things are built for function and I feel something has been lost.

“When I first pitched the idea to friends and family they all hated it.”


Skype confirms 3D video calls are under development

Skype has confirmed it has developed 3D video calls.

The news was revealed by a senior executive in an exclusive interview with the BBC to mark Skype’s 10th anniversary.

However, the executive warned it could be many years before the tech launched.

“We’ve done work in the labs looking at the capability of 3D-screens and 3D-capture,” said Microsoft’s corporate vice-president for Skype, Mark Gillett.

 

ERIK’S SHOWNOTES

 

T-Mobile Employee Blackout Dates Support September 20 iPhone Release Date

 

Wednesday August 28, 2013 2:36 pm PDT by Juli Clover

 

T-Mobile has implemented vacation blackout dates between September 20 and 22, reportsTmoNews, potentially confirming a prospective September 20 release date for the iPhone 5S and 5C that was first leaked earlier this month by Japanese business newspaper Nikkei.

 

During the blackout period, employees will be unable to take vacation time to ensure that T-Mobile has adequate staff on hand for a large release event. Similar blackouts have been instituted for the launch of previous iPhone models and other high-profile products.

While MacRumors has heard reports of a September 20 blackout date for T-Mobile employees, reports from AT&T and Verizon employees have been conflicting, with some citing an October blackout period. Blackout dates are occasionally instituted for a broad range of dates and then narrowed down as a release date approaches and can also be subject to change based on Apple’s exact event plans.

 

Apple’s iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C are both expected to be revealed at a September 10event that has been confirmed by multiple sources, which makes September 20 a likely candidate for release as Apple typically launches its new phones in the United States and other markets approximately a week and a half after they are announced.

 

Last year, Apple announced the iPhone 5 at a media event on September 12, launchingthe phone several days later on September 21 in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.

 

Apple’s September 10 iPhone Media Event Said to Also Include New iPads [Updated]

 

Wednesday August 28, 2013 5:55 am PDT by Eric Slivka

 

Buried in anarticle about Apple’s upcoming Tokyo retail store, Bloomberg briefly mentions that Apple’s September 10 media event will see the introduction of not only new iPhone models, but also new iPads.

 

The Cupertino, California-based company plans to introduce new versions of its phone and tablet at a Sept. 10 event, a person familiar with the matter has said, and the company promised “several more game changers” in the product pipeline as it tries to fend off Samsung Electronics Co. and Chinese makers selling cheaper handsets.

 

The September 10 date for Apple’s iPhone media event wasreported by AllThingsD earlier this month andall but confirmed over the following few days by a number of other sources, but the event had been thought to be focused solely on the iPhone and iOS 7.

 

Given the casual nature with which Bloomberg mentions that new iPads are expected at the event, it is possible that it is an error, as rumors have suggested that the new iPads would not appear until closer to the end of the year. Apple has even been reported to perhaps bepushing back the release of iOS 7 for iPad by a few weeks relative to the iPhone version of the software, with the new iPads and their version of iOS 7 appearing at a later media event.

 

Update: Bloomberg made a similar quiet mention of both iPhones and iPads appearing at the September 10 event in anarticle last week.

 

Update 2: Bloomberg has now updated its article to remove mention of new tablets at Apple’s September 10 event.

 

Update 3: The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple hasconfirmed that there will be no iPads introduced at Apple’s September 10 iPhone media event.                                         

 

Newly Released Video Offers Detailed Look at Upcoming ‘Champagne’ iPhone 5S and Low-Cost iPhone

 

Monday August 26, 2013 2:12 pm PDT by Juli Clover

 

A new video gives a detailed look at of Apple’s upcoming “champagne” iPhone 5S along with a close look at the bluelow-cost iPhone “5C”. The video, posted byAppAdvice, compares the backplates of both devices to the existing iPhone 5 and gives the clearest look yet at the design of Apple’s newest iPhones.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-Ib6NME-DE&feature=player_embedded

As noted in multiple descriptions of the “gold” iPhone, the color is closer to a light champagne than it is to a bright and garish gold. The video depicts a subdued gold color that matches well with the silver of the existing iPhone 5.

 

The iPhone 5C and 5S backplates in the video appear to be similar in size to the existing iPhone 5. While the low-cost iPhone is slightly thicker due to its polycarbonate shell, the iPhone 5S is nearly identical to the iPhone 5 with the exception of thedual-LED rear flash. The iPhone 5S, which will be Apple’s new flagship device, is also expected to feature a redesigned home button to incorporate its fingerprint sensor.

 

Though the iPhone 5S will feature improvements to the processor along with camera upgrades and other enhancements, the iPhone 5C will likely utilize existing iPhone 5 parts as it is rumored to be a replacement for the iPhone 5.

 

The iPhone 5C is shown in blue, but it will come in an array of colors including blue, green, red, yellow, and white. Apple is not expected to produce a black iPhone 5C, but all of the 5Cs will feature standard black faceplates with a matching black Apple logo on the back of the device.

As noted byAppAdvice the iPhone 5S features a shiny metallic logo along with thinner “iPhone” text, which appears to be inline with both the lettering on the iPhone 5C and Apple’s overall adoption ofskinnier fonts.

 

Earlier today a rumorsurfaced suggesting that Apple could have a “graphite” colored iPhone 5S in the works, which would accompany the champagne/white, silver/white, and slate/black iPhone 5S varieties.

Both the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C are expected to debut at aniPhone event held in September.  

 

 

 

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