As title alludes to, we are doing things different. Deemable Tech is rebooting, and starting version 2.0.
Starting now, if you have a question about your computer, smart phone, tablet or the Internet, well you won’t hear us answer it here. We will still answer your tech questions, but we are not going to answer them on the podcast. At least, not on this podcast. We are now doing a separate podcast called Ask Deemable Tech. If that’s what you love, go subscribe to that podcast. Search iTunes for “Ask Deemable Tech”
From here on out, on this show, Deemable Tech, we are only going to talk about tech news and do gadget and app reviews. If that’s not your thing, and you don’t enjoy talking about techy nerdy things, get out of here!
Seriously though, we are trying to make a show that is more targeted at what people want. Before we were doing things that appealed to people who were into tech, and we were also trying to do a show for people that didn’t like tech stuff. We think it just ended up appealing to nobody. But, we hope you like this show or our new show Ask Deemable Tech. And, if you like either show, we hope you share it with your friends who will also like it!
If you want to help us decide what stories we talk about on the show, go to our subreddit page and submit a story, and vote other stories up or down. reddit.com/r/Deemable
Show Notes
FCC proposes classifying internet as public utility Yay! Net Neutrality!
- http://www.wired.com/2015/02/fcc-chairman-wheeler-net-neutrality/
- http://gizmodo.com/fcc-chief-yes-lets-reclassify-the-internet-and-save-n-1683726815
- http://www.cnet.com/news/fcc-chairman-wheeler-to-use-utility-style-rules-to-enforce-net-neutrality/
Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission published an op-ed this week on Wired.com saying that the Internet should be regulated as a public utility, and the Internet subsequently exploded.
Wheeler said, ?Broadband network operators have an understandable motivation to manage their network to maximize their business interests. But their actions may not always be optimal for network users.?
Silk Road Creator Ross Ulbricht found guilty
Silk Road was the black market website where narcotics like hallucinogenic mushrooms were sold. Silk road is probably best known for using, and giving a bad rep to, bitcoin. Silk Road used bitcoin because of its perceived untraceability.
Arrested during a surprise sting operation, Ulbrich was taken with his laptop open and logged into the Silk Road website under the username ?Dread Pirate Roberts?. This pseudonym is a nod to the film The Princess Bride in which the Dread Pirate Roberts is actually a title passed on by a series of masked individuals. At trial, Ulbricht claimed as his defense that he had in fact created the Silk Road but then passed ownership to another Dread Pirate Roberts who had then framed him. However, with a mountain of private messages, emails, bitcoin transactions and other evidence against him, the jury didn?t buy it. Ulbricht was found guilty and will face sentencing for money laundering, narcotics trafficking and computer hacking, among others.
Ulbricht could be facing life in prison for his crimes.
RadioShack about to file bankruptcy
- http://www.wired.com/2015/02/dear-radioshack-adored-love-wired/
- http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/hopes-radioshack-revival-fade-stock-delisted-28703886
- http://gizmodo.com/farewell-radio-shack-and-farewell-to-the-twentieth-ce-1683513865
A lot of analysts are predicting that RadioShack is about to file bankruptcy. Just this week, the New York Stock Exchange delisted RadioShack, and shares of its stock are suspended from trading.
RadioShack stopped being a place for nerds to buy computer components a long time ago, and tried to become a mobile device boutique store. People were turned off by high pressure sales tactics, and staff that wasn’t quite tech savvy.
They recently trying to get back to their nerdy way by selling Arduino kits and even hiring ?Weird Al? as a spokesperson. But ultimately, nerds know that the cheapest and easiest way to get the gadgets they want is to go online.
The rumor is that Sprint or Amazon is considering buying out the retail stores.
Insecurity of banks
Gizmodo did a story pointing out that Gmail is more secure than most major banks, or more to the point, most banks are less secure than Gmail. In other words, the place where you keep your spam, is more secure than the place where you keep your money.
If you use a bank, your bank is probably on this list. U.S Bank, American Express, HSBC, PNC Bank, Capital One, Suntrust, TD Bank, Simple, and Wells Fargo do not offer any sort of two-factor authentication. Only Bank of America and Chase offer SMS notifications for each login.
Instagram videos now loop… just like Vine videos
It looks like Instagram is taking another page out of Vine?s playbook. Vine, of course, is the app where you can upload and view really, really short (as in 6 seconds-long) looping videos that people post.
Instagram is the app that Facebook bought for the, then ridiculous amount of one billion dollars, where people post stupid pictures of their food with filters that make the pictures look like they were taken with a crappy, antique out of focus Polaroid camera.
Instagram added the ability to upload videos in June of 2013, and the only differentiating factor was that you could upload up to 15 seconds of video, and the videos didn’t loop.
The video feature on Instagram hasn’t really taken off, and apparently someone at Instagram believes that is because the video do not loop. So they fixed that. We’ll report later if anyone cares.
#Blanking
There is a new meme that is getting popular. It’s called Blanking. According to Urban Dictionary. It is when…
someone posts a photo of a blank stare on someone’s Facebook page and Twitter feed with no explanation except for the hashtag #blanking or #blanked
Examples:
I wish Frank would quit blanking me.
He blanked me on Facebook last night, and I’m still freaked out.
Blanking is so much worse than duckface.
Deemable Tech 2.0 #blanking