DigitalOutbox Episode 393

Chris and Ian discuss Uber, Boradband and Games

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iTunes
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Shownotes

DigitalOutbox Episode 155

DigitalOutbox Episode 155
DigitalOutbox Episode 155 – Rubin moves, Reader shuttered and the Boxer hunts a Troll

Playback
Listen via iTunes
Listen via M4A
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Shownotes
0:51 – Sundar Pichai Takes Over For Andy Rubin As Head Of Android At Google
11:30 – Google takes harsh stance against ad-blocking apps, removes them from Play Store
14:03 – A second spring of cleaning
26:56 – Kindle Fire HD 8.9 finally hits the UK
28:23 – Netflix Speed Index
29:46 – Average UK broadband speed hits 12Mbps
32:20 – Pirate Bay for 3D printing launched
35:22 – The boxer and the troll

Picks
Ian
Pocket Casts
– £2.70
– Great features
– Great widget
– Digitaloutbox looks excellent in it – see the feeds

Ridiculous Fishing
– £1.50 ish?
– Great games for iOS
– Simple – drop anchor, catch fish

DigitalOutbox Episode 110

DigitalOutbox Episode 110
In this episode the team discuss the new iPad, Google Play and Halo 4.

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Shownotes
0:59 – Apple Keynote
– We’re in post pc world
– 1080p movies and tv shows on iTunes and via iCloud
– New Apple TV – same price, 1080p, new UI – out March 16th
– iPad
– Retina display
– Ryan Block’s first impressions of the new iPad:
It’s the best display I’ve ever seen. Anywhere, period. And it makes a meaningful difference to the experience — it’s not just a spec.
– 4G LTE support – not great for UK- Everything Everywhere, Three (3) and O2 have plans to roll out 21Mbit/s HSPA+ nationwide by Q3 2012
– 5mp camera
– Voice dictation – No siri
– Prices the same
– New name – iPad 🙂
– Out March 16th
– iPad 2 price reduced
– iPhoto for iOS software announced – very nice UI
– Switched to using Open Street Maps for maps – http://blog.osmfoundation.org/2012/03/08/welcome-apple/ – The OSM data that Apple is using is rather old (start of April 2010) so don’t expect to see your latest and greatest updates on there. It’s also missing the necessary credit to OpenStreetMap’s contributors; we look forward to working with Apple to get that on there.
– iOS 5.1 out – Jap siri, can now delete photos from photo stream plus a few minorish updates
– Sad face – too many people saying Steve wouldn’t have done this, Apple are failing, they’ve made a mistake – from successful business folk or tech commentators that are link baiting. Work it out.
15:08 – Google Play
– Google shutter Android Market, Google Music and the Google eBookstore and launch Google Play
– Google Play – apps, movies, music and books – all in one place
– Not just a store front – it’s a digital destination
– With Google Play you can:
– Store up to 20,000 songs for free and buy millions of new tracks
– Download more than 450,000 Android apps and games
– Browse the world’s largest selection of eBooks
– Rent thousands of your favorite movies, including new releases and HD titles
– Android 2.2 or higher getting OTA updates over the next week
– One more thing – rented movies from Google play won’t work on rooted devices
– So…..is this not iCloud and iTunes?
16:43 – Raspberry Pi
– Shipped tail end of Feb
– Available from RS Components and Farnell – both suffered melt down
– Demand at end of last week was running at 700…….per second
– Farnell – Besides interest in the UK, here had also been interest from a Middle East government which wanted to give one to every schoolgirl in order to enhance their job prospects. She declined to name the country, but said “the inclusion of girls is very important.
20:47 – BT and Talk Talk lose challenge over Digital Economy Act
– The government has been given the green light to implement the Digital Economy Act after the final legal challenge by two internet service providers was thrown out at the court of appeal.
– BT and TalkTalk on Tuesday lost their appeal against last year’s judicial review of the government’s controversial anti-piracy legislation on all but one ground.
– Three senior judges at the court of appeal ruled that the government could not make ISPs pay a proportion of the case fees attached to the act.
– They confirmed that the ISPs should pay 25% of relevant costs, which are operating fees incurred when identifying which subscribers are accused of illegal downloading.
– The judges overturned a previous high court ruling which said that the ISPs have to pay 25% of case fees that are charged by the proposed appeals body.
– Rights holders have agreed to foot 75% of the costs in each of the three fees.
– The court of appeal also ruled that BT and TalkTalk must pay 93% of the costs of the legal challenge, a figure understood to have run into six figures.
– So ISP’s will start writing letters to ‘pirates’
22:44 – Lulzsec leader was working for the FBI
– Hector Xavier Monsegur, known as Sabu, was charged with 12 criminal counts of conspiracy to engage in computer hacking and other crimes in court papers in Manhattan federal court, after secretly pleading guilty on August 15 to 12 counts of computer hacking conspiracies.
– Monsegur, an unemployed 28-year-old Puerto Rican living in New York, pleaded guilty to carrying out online attacks against PayPal and Mastercard, documents unsealed in a Manhattan court on Tuesday shows. The charges were filed via a “criminal information” form, which means the suspect has been cooperating with the government.
– Five other people – two in the UK, two in Ireland and one in Chicago – were either arrested or charged by the FBI on Tuesday, details of which were set out in an indictment brought by the US Attorney General’s office in New York.
– One of the people named in the indictment, Jake Davis, already faces a number of charges in the UK relating to alleged hacking by LulzSec. Also known by his hacker name of “Topiary”, Davis, 19, of Lerwick, Shetland, was on Tuesday charged in the US with two counts of computer hacking conspiracy.
– But the explosive revelation that LulzSec’s leader was cooperating with the FBI, even while he was claiming to hate the government, could lead to the arrest of other hackers within the broader Anonymous group. It will also heighten distrust among the more powerful members of the collective – where paranoia about security always runs high anyway.
– An FBI official was quoted by Fox News, which broke the story, as saying: “This is devastating to the organisation … we’re chopping off the head of LulzSec.”
24:39 – Game and Capcom issues
– Capcom’s Street Fighter X Tekken and Asura’s Wrath will not be available from GAME or Gamestation.
– Both were scheduled for release this Friday on March 9th.
– It is the latest in a string of blockbusters not stocked by the High Street chain, including Mass Effect 3, Mario Party 9, The Last Story and FIFA Street.
27:49 – Halo 4 Preview
– How do we really support different play styles in Halo 4? There’s always been a lot of choice in Halo, but it’s about pushing that even further. It gets back to how do we allow players to choose the thing that supports the play style that makes them the most successful.”
The move toward a full character progression system will no doubt be controversial with Halo fans, and will be viewed as a shift in style toward first-person shooter rivals such as Call of Duty and Battlefield.
– “The community should have some confidence that it’s been thought through as a Halo game,” said franchise development director Frank O’Connor. “The balance system has been considered as an intrinsic part the Halo feel. I’d like to tell people to be happy and confident and look forward to it, but I can’t control that. We’ll explain our decisions at a later date. It’s been carefully considered.”
– During a press briefing, Holmes also hinted that the infrastructure of the multiplayer mode is likely to evolve too, with changes to the lobby and matchmaking systems that suggest a more socially connected title. “We’re really changing the experience surrounding multiplayer,” he said. “We’re providing a brand new experience for you and your friends to play, in a way you’ve never played Halo before.”
– The worry over this not being a Bungie game hasn’t gone
– Battle rifle returns…but unlockable abilities sound like COD or Battlefield
– Forza Horizon
– http://forzamotorsport.net/en-us/en-us/forza_horizon_announce/
– Forza Horizon is being developed by Playground Games in collaboration with Turn 10 Studios. Playground Games is an independent UK game development studio formed in 2009. It was founded by the leadership team responsible for award-winning racing franchises like TOCA, Colin McRae Rally, GRID, and DiRT.
– Forza outrun as Gavin described it – Fall 2012
– Forza Porsche pack coming May

Picks
Chris
DrawSomething
– OMGPOP game.
– Cross device app (Android, iOS)
– Turn based pictionary in essence. You get to chose the word you want to try and draw. More coins earned for harder words.
– Other person then gets to see a recording of you drawing.
– Hangman style letters at bottom of the screen to chose from and make a word.
– Once correct/pass, the recording of the other person guessing is then played back to the original drawer – followed by watching the other player draw their word… etc
– Idea is to get the longest winning streaks.
– Coins earn you unlocks – eg you start with a limited pallet, so coins unlock more colour options. High coin prices on colours etc mean you need to play lots to unlock OR (of course) you can in-app purchase more coins.
– Yes, it’s easy to cheat and just write the word on screen – but MOST people don’t do this and I just stop playing with anyone who does that.
– Currently on sale 69p.