Episode 95 - Solo Mission II
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Welcome to episode 95 of Geek Bytes Podcast.
I’m Ramon Mejia
Every podcast we bring you the roundup of the week’s best Geek and Tech news, then we discuss that news and anything else we’re interested in that week.
In Geek News this week, we’ll talk about the Yahoo Data Breach, Uber and Google Self Driving Cars, Facebook tries to kill Fake News, casting news for Aquaman, Star Trek Discovery, and more
Now let’s Begin our show with Geek News
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Geek News
We begin with…
Yahoo announced Wednesday that data provided by law enforcement in November indicates a security breach compromised more than one billion accounts in August 2013. Information may have included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords (using the easily crackable MD5 hash) and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers. This is separate from the breach disclosed September 22nd. Yahoo is notifying affected users and invalidating security questions. Yahoo is still in the process of being acquired by Verizon. http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/12/yahoo-reveals-1-billion-more-accounts-exposed-and-some-code-may-have-been-stolen/
(Play Video 1)
Alphabet announced Tuesday it will move its autonomous car project from Google X into a new company under Alphabet called Waymo. FiatChrysler has been partnered with the Google X project since May and will continue to partner with Waymo. Waymo CEO John Krafcik said the technology could be used in ridesharing, in transportation, trucking, logistics even personal use vehicles and licensing with automakers, public transport. Krafcik expects the first modified Chrysler Pacifica using Waymo technology to be on the road in the near future. Bloomberg and the Information reported that sources said Alphabet hoped to have a ride-sharing service available for passengers by the end of 2017.
https://youtu.be/uHbMt6WDhQ8 https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/13/googles-self-driving-car-unit-spins-out-as-waymo/
Facebook partners with fact-checking organizations to begin flagging fake news - The Verge
IDENTIFYING
- Facebook will identify fake news stories and populate a dashboard to review them.
CHECKING
- Facebook employees will separate personal posts from links that present themselves as news. Basically checking the domain only.
- Cross check the flagged stories against fact checking sites like: Snopes, Politifact, FactCheck.org and ABCNews
ALERT
- If at least two of those sources mark the link as disputed it will receive alerts
- A banner under the article in the news feed will read “Disputed by 3rd Party Fact Checkers.” with links to debunking
- Disputed articles will show up lower in news feed
- Attempts to share a disputed article will trigger a pop-up informing the user.
- Disputed articles will not be eligible to be promoted through Facebook advertising
PREVENTION
- Publishers who use spoof domains like abcnewscom.co will buying ads http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/15/13960062/facebook-fact-check-partnerships-fake-news
This week rolled out a limited test for their automated car service. The vehicle won’t just show up empty though, two Uber employees will be on board monitoring the vehicle and ready to take over if needed.
As soon as Uber started its test, the California Department of Motor Vehicles sent a letter to Uber telling it to stop its illegal autonomous car tests in San Francisco until it receives a permit. The DMV said it will pursue legal action if Uber does not comply.
Uber says its cars are compliant because they cannot be driven without a human present and will not file for the permit.
Examiner reported dashboard camera video of an Uber autonomous car running a red light. http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/14/13962180/uber-california-self-driving-dmv-permit
http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/14/13921514/uber-self-driving-car-san-francisco-launch-volvo-xc90
(Play Video 2)
Amazon launched a private U-A-V delivery trial December 7 in the UK-- delivering an Amazon Fire TV and a bag of popcorn.
There are plans to eventually expand to all shoppers who live near the Prime Air fulfillment center near Cambridge.
The first trial took 13 minutes from order to delivery. Amazon’s goal is to keep the process less than 30 minutes.
https://youtu.be/98BIu9dpwHU https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/14/amazons-prime-air-delivery-uk/
Instagram started rolling out live broadcasting in the US to its Stories function. So now it’s just like Facebook and Periscope.
http://thenextweb.com/apps/2016/12/12/instagram-live-video-rolling-everyone-us/
Apple started selling its bluetooth headphones Tuesday morning.
The AirPods have no connecting wire and sell for $159. Delivery dates were listed for December 21st but quickly slipped into January.
https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/13/airpods/?ncid=rss
(Play Video 3)
Super Mario Run launched on iOS Thursday. The app is free to download which gives you the first three World Tour levels. Players can unlock the rest of the World Tour levels, Toad Rally and Kingdom Builder by paying a one time $9.99 fee.
https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/15/super-mario-run-available/?ncid=rss
Power Ranger movie spoilers Alert!!
According to The Wrap, Rita Repulsa, played by Elizabeth Banks, isn’t just set up to create the Green Ranger, she is the Green Ranger! Or rather, she was the original Green Ranger around 65 million years ago. And everyone’s favorite giant energy head, Zordon was the Red Ranger! Considering that Bryan Cranston voiced monsters on the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers TV show and he’s actually playing Zordon in this film, we can’t help but wonder if he’ll actually wear the Red Ranger suit in the new movie as well!
http://nerdist.com/rita-repulsas-big-power-rangers-reveal-is-crazier-than-we-thought/
Patrick Wilson has been set by Warner Bros and director James Wan to costar in Aquaman. Jason Momoa plays the title character, and Wilson will play the fish whisperer’s super-villain half brother ORM, also known as Ocean Master, in the DC film that Warner Bros will release October 5, 2018
In news that's sure to excite Star Trek fans, The Walking Dead's Sonequa Martin-Green has been cast in the lead role in the upcoming Star Trek Discovery.
Though CBS hasn't confirmed the casting, sources for Entertainment Weekly say Martin-Green will play a lieutenant commander in the series, set to air in May. The casting marks the first time a black woman has led a Star Trek show, though The Original Series is famous for breaking early barriers with TV's first interracial kiss back in 1968.
http://www.dailydot.com/parsec/star-trek-discovery-casts-sonequa-martin-green/?fb=gk
The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday revealed that Margot Robbie will be re-teaming with her Suicide Squad director David Ayer for another DC Comics adaptation, Gotham City Sirens. Robbie will be reprising her role as the Clown Princess of Crime, Harley Quinn, which went down as many people’s favorite (or only redeeming) element of this summer’s Suicide Squad. Ayer will direct and produce the movie, with Robbie also serving as executive producer.
http://nerdist.com/margot-robbie-and-david-ayer-re-teaming-for-gotham-city-sirens-harley-quinn/
ALAN THICKE DEAD AT 69
Alan Thicke, best remembered for his 7 year role on Growing Pains, passed this week at the age of 69. TMZ reports that Alan Thicke had a heart attack while he was playing hockey with his 19-year-old son, Carter. He was transported to Providence St. Joseph's Medical Center around noon Tuesday, and pronounced dead there.
https://www.tmz.com/2016/12/13/alan-thicke-dead/
That’s it for the show
If you like the podcast and want to help support us you can find out all the ways to do so at geekbytespodcast.com/support
Thanks for watching and listening.
For the Geek Bytes Podcast I’m Ramon Mejia and I’m Edgar Acosta. Now Go Geek out about something.
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Music Credits
"Happy Bee", "Movement Proposition", "Theme for Harold (var.3) ", "Take the Lead"
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/