Hoverboards beat Realtime Search and Video Codecs any day.

Episode 51!  Facebook’s new places feature has been alive for a week and there’s already a follow-up.  Google and Yahoo announce new moves in the Realtime Search market and Digg debuts it’s new version 4.x interface— Chris, Dwayne and Devindra break down what the big deal is. They also go into the headlines spawned by MPEG-LA’s move to keep their h.264 codec “free” until their rights to it run out. And then, there’s The Rundown.

Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS (for other media players), stream it with the player below, or   download the episode. As always, you can email us at symbiotekpodcast@gmail.com.

Discussion Highlights

• (02:17) Facebook Places Vs. Google Places. Both are aiming for local advertisers. Which tech giant’s strategy will succeed?
• (17:47) Google’s Gmail Voice Call allows users to make calls from a web browser… to a real phone. Without paying. What’s Skype to do?
• (22:01) Realtime Search! What is it and why are Yahoo and Google making moves in this area?
  • Google’s Realtime Search Update
  • Yahoo’s Realtime Search Update (OneRiot)
  • Blekko’s New Search Tactics (Customized Searches)
• (33:55) The New Digg.com: Digg 4.x Can Kevin Rose save one of the pillars of Web 2.0?
• (40:20) MPEG-LA’s new plans for the H.264 Codec: It’s Free. Sort Of.
• (53:13) The Rundown!
  • (53:22) Facebook gives Hacker News/Y Combinator start-up’s “VIP treatment.”
  • (1:00:16) Diaspora’s almost here. Chris has the updates.
  • (1:05:20) Finally, a “stovetop” heating surface for the 21st Century.
  • (1:10:27) Nike patents automatically lacing sneakers and finally, we’ve been brought Back to the Future! (2!)

Featured Music

• Music: Shiro Sagisu – Magma Diver, Barefoot in the Park (from the Evangelion soundtracks)

The Galaxy S - Samsung's Found Another Hit Phone for Android

We mentioned the Samsung Galaxy S some weeks ago back in Episode 49. It looks like Samsung’s strategy of making what’s basically the same device available on all carriers is working for them. They’re not selling in iPad numbers (1 million the first month of availability) but at 1 million units in just over ~six weeks, this launch is fairly remarkable…and maybe that’s because the marketing is not being pushed by one carrier alone. This is certainly easier on everyone’s wallet.

You can expect more from the accessory manufacturers too, with these numbers– something that iPhone users get great support from, and which is part of the secret sauce of that platform’s success.

If you’re looking to upgrade from a 2008 era device, the Galaxy S is worth investigating, especially if you’re an Android fan. Given that the device is being sold across the aisle from the iPhone at the AT&T store, it shows that when there are valid options, people will choose what’s best for them…especially if they don’t have to pay an Apple premium for it…and that goes double for when Samsung gives them away for FREE!

Intel gobbles up McAffee & FB Places shows up too late.

The big Five-Oh! Devindra, Dwayne, and Chris go on about Facebook’s newly launched Places feature and whether it’s worth abandoning traditional geo-location social networks. They also head into the Intel purchase of McAffee, using the available data to look at where Intel’s heading a decade into the Third Millenuim. And then, of course, there’s the Rundown– this week, the three take time to explore New York’s rapidly growing tech scene.

Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS (for other media players), stream it with the player below, or   download the episode. As always, you can email us at symbiotekpodcast@gmail.com.

Discussion Highlights

• (02:18) Facebook launches “Places.” How does it stack up to 4Square, GoWalla, and the previous late entry, Twitter?
  • (07:49) And what are the privacy issues?
• (26:06) Intel Spends all of its cash on virus-scan software maker McAffee, but WHY?! The guys use the available data to make sense of it all, and spark a discussion on the ethics of tech & a free market.
• The Rundown!
  • (50:44) New York as New Tech’s Rising Star? Why now? Kelly Sutton has some valid points for NYC over SF.
  • (58:12) Yahoo – Bingified. Finally.

Featured Music

• Music: Neon Indian, “Psychic Chasms”, “Mind, Drips.”

Google CEO Eric Schmidt with Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam

In this episode, Devindra, Dwayne, and Chris chat about Google and Verizon’s plan for an “open internet”, foreign countries threatening to ban BlackBerries for security reasons, and the death of the Plastic Logic Que ereader.

Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS (for other media players), stream it with the player below, or   download the episode. As always, you can email us at symbiotekpodcast@gmail.com.

Discussion Highlights

• (04:15) Google and Verizon talk net neutrality
• (30:10) BlackBerry comes under fire from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, India, and more
• (40:55) The death of the Plastic Logic Que ereader
• The Rundown!
  • (51:21) Samsung backs up Galaxy S Android phones with plenty of accessories
  • (57:05) How to get Amber Alerts for lost kids texted to you
  • (1:01:00) Apple TV now iTV, a few more potential details emerge

Featured Music

• Sex Bob-omb — “We Are Sex Bob-omb”, “Threshold” — from the Scott Pilgrim Soundtrack

Wikileaks puts the 'ass' in classified.

In this Episode, Dwayne and Chris are joined by Patrick Roanhouse of the Plan8 Podcasst. It’s all about Tech and Society– Literally. While law enforcement’s been using video as evidence in crimes for years, how does the flipside work in an age where every cell phone is a video camera, especially when social media allows these videos to easily be displayed for all eyes to see. The Freedom of Information Act is being usurped by WikiLeaks, a Web 2.0 strategy which allows anyone to distribute ‘secret data, and as technology moves citizens move from consumers to prosumers, large organizations like BP have to think twice before they attempt to fool the public with doctored propogandic images of their clean-up efforts in the Gulf. All right here, where we focus on how technology impacts our lives: The Symbiotek.

Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS (for other media players), stream it with the player below, or   download the episode. As always, you can email us at symbiotekpodcast@gmail.com.

Discussion Highlights

• (02:47) Consumer tech and law enforcement. What happens when citizens start watching the watchers?
  • (15:22) Law enforcement isn’t ready to give up the privilege of having the infrastructure of evidence on their side.
  • (22:55) As society catches up with tech, is the response to citizen surveillance one that goes too far?
• (29:26) BP gets caught using doctored photos of their Gulf Oil Spill clean-up efforts– not by experts, but by tech enthusiasts. The Pro-Sumer has finally arrived.
  • (37:36) www.ErrorLevelAnalysis.com! Like playing sleuth? Take your browser there, the tech is a great treat.
• (44:14) Wikileaks - What is it? Who runs it? What’s its impact? Why is this new media technology the greatest thing to happen to old     media in a long, long time.
  • (55:50) So what makes Wikileaks different from any other user/fan-based site which hosts illegal content?
  • (59:10) So what’s the link to Journalism again? We spell out how they affect how you get your news.

• (1:04:53) Finally some Android Tablets are coming down the pike. (Follow-Up of story from last week)
  • Asus Drops Windows for Android Based Eee Pad Tablet
  • HP Moves to TradeMark “PalmPad”

• (1:14:08)The Rundown!
  • (1:04:24) Microsoft’s New Slogan, “Be What’s Next.” Will it help? Does it really matter? Patrick is out for blood, and wants Ballmer ousted.
  • (1:20:47) Boxee Box hardware finalized, but bizarre as it may sound, it might be too late for it to take off given the imminent release of GoogleTV hardware. Then again, you’d still need cable for GoogleTV. We lay it out.
  • (1:33:15) Symbiotek Green: Lincoln’s MKZ mid-sized luxury sedan is now available as a Hybrid– but instead of charging more, it will costs the exact same amount of money as the traditional V6. When Hybrids are dollar for dollar the same outset cost as traditional vehicles, will the promise of cheaper payments at the         pump help them fly out of showrooms?
  • (1:44:40) BioTech – Rat Lungs regenerated by scientists. Scientists GREW a pair of lungs. Fifth Element, here we come!
  • (1:49:49) Patrick Speaks out on Education and Anti-Intellectualism. Get some of the former and throw away the latter!
• (1:57:49) Easter Egg: 15 seconds of ridiculum….

Featured Music

• Radiohead, Studio Kid A: “National Anthem,;” “Idioteque;” and Scala covering Radiohead from the music from the Original Motion Picture Soundrack: “Creep.”

Skimmers in Action (Courtesy of The Epoch Times)

The oil spewed from a mile beneath the gulf for around eighty days before being cappedn ad hopefully, eventually plugged. In the meantime, government scientists who studied the phenomenon via the underwater video cameras estimate as many as 50,000 barrels of oil spewed from the broken well every day– that’s four million barrels of crude oil altogether– an environmental disaster to be sure.

So the question becomes, how to deal with the clean-up. How do you take 4 million barrels of oil out of the Gulf of Mexico quickly and cleanly? Well, you ask the experts. The Gulf oil Spill is big, but surely, there are people who deal with spills approaching this size, or, more importantly, who’ve dealt with big spills recently.

Enter the Dutch. Rotterdam’s a port of call for oil, and the Dutch have made an industry of cleaning it up. The tech is called The Sweeping Arm Oil Skimmer. they have machines that can sift oil from the ocean’s surface and hold onto it while spitting filtered water back into the Gulf. PRI’s Marketplace reported that the Dutch offered Uncle Sam their technology and expertise in dealing with the spill at the outset in May, however–

American officials refused. Rather, they decided to tackle the millions of barrels of oil in the cheapest, most environmentally destructive way possible: burn it.

And that plan didn’t even begin until mid June– the explosion that began the spill happened on 22 April (or Earth Day). When that didn’t work, the people running the cleaning effort moved to a slightly less deadly technology: toxic oil dispersants…nevermind the vibrant fishing industry that works these waters. The EPA censured the use of the dispersants, but still refused to allow the use of the Dutch skimmers because the ‘filtered’ water that was being put back into the Gulf wasn’t covered by their rules.

To give you an idea of how ridiculous this decision was, understand that according to the Examiner, on 8 June, more than six weeks after the spill commenced, BP reported that they had collected ~64k barrels of oil…less than a days work for one of the Dutch skimmers.

But that wasn’t the only tech fail to occur in during the spill. Kevin Costner (that’s right, Mr. Field of Deams, and perhaps, more appropriately, Waterworld) attempted to get machinery that he heavily invested in, machinery that does indeed clean oil off the surface of the water. According to Costner, oil companies would not invest in the machines because they “did not think another spill could occur,” while regulators would not allow his unapproved machines on the scene. Logical as that may sound, the regulators would not allow the machinery to be approved without testing it first…but since it was unapproved testing could not happen… (you see the problem here).

It wasn’t until mid July that the US government started to re-consider the use of the Dutch skimmers. A move back in the right direction to be sure, but a move that came way too late.

There’s another tech tragedy here. The Deep Horizon oil rig, whose explosion commenced the spill that ill-fated spring night, was outfitted with alarms to wake and warn the oil drillers of anything out of the ordinary. That alarm was partially turned off, in an effort to ensure the  oil-rig personnel slept well.

Overall, the technological decision making taking place during this crisis has been horrendous. Many lives– human, wetlands and marine could have been saved if the leadership involved in this situation had been more technologically open, and more technologically aware. Allowing regulations to get in the way of legitimate the clean-up efforts of an environmentally and economically sensitive area is as close to criminal negligence as one can get; and what’s worse? It violates the spirit of those regulations at the expense of people’s livelihoods, and worse, nature’s majesty.

The Graphite version of the new 6" Kindle

They said the Kindle was dead. They said it could never compete with Apple’s iPad, and the waves of Windows and Android-based tablets to come. They yelled that it wasn’t versatile enough, they derided it for it’s singular drive.

They should all stop talking, because they’re all dead wrong.

The first clue was that earlier this month, Amazon announced that it sold more E-Books in Q4 of 2009 than it did the old-fashioned paper kind, and a lot of that selling, was through the Kindle.

The second clue came in when the Kindle’s price point dropped and started FLYING off the shelves. It’s been Amazon’s best selling item for “two years running.”

The third clue came when suddenly, they were all gone.

Kindle has always been popular, but it’s always been out of reach for the average user– the price, just a touch above what seemed logical for an electronic book reader, especially when it came out two years ago, and few saw its potential. But recently with price drops, the device has seen an explosion of popularity, and if anything, that popularity has been bolstered by the iPad (and perhaps how it’s not trying to be that device).

The new Kindles have taken a lesson from the new kid on Apple’s block. They’ve got a cheapy WiFi version at $140.00 and then the 3G WhisperNet version for $190.00.

Each has:

1. New E-Ink displays with claims of 50% higher contrast than other E-Readers
2. the same no-glare screen that allows readers to pull it out while sitting out under the sun.
3. Slimmer body (21% slimmer)
4. 8.7 ounces, so less than a paperback book
5. 3,500 books worth of storage
6. connectivity to any AT&T wifi hotspot in the US (without a password or clumsy logins) and, if you have the 3G version, access to new content anywhere you receive AT&T 3G
7. Up to 1 month of battery life (with wireless off)

The New 6" Kindle. Thinner than a standard pencil.

Of these seven features, lucky number seven sticks out to us the most here, because it’s tailored to the Symbiotek. By that I mean long battery life is key to an E-Reader if it wants to properly replace books, the current traditional technology we use to consume poetry, literature, satire and so on.

Don’t get me wrong, the iPad is an evolutionary device that will become a platform for all sorts of mobile computing but if you’re in it for the reading, 10-12hours on a charge isn’t going to suffice. The Kindle isn’t trying to be the jack of all trades that the iPad is, and that’s its strength.

When you want to cross people out of a centuries-old paradigm, companies need to give them what I call a TRUE upgrade. leave nothing behind. A true upgrade to paper books gives you everything you have with traditional paperbacks, but a little bit more– or in Kindle’s case, a lot more. That’s what the kindle is.

You want to get lost in your books, and with the Kindle it’s easy to do that. Turn to a page and there you are. No Facebook notifications or the like to get in your way. Kindle doesnt require a second hand to ‘flip’ pages, so you can lay in more positions as you fall deeper into the content than with a traditional book. You can read it in sunlight on your deck without the annoyance of glare. You don’t have to think about charging it with any regularity. It’s light, so you can hold it longer without noticing it. The plastic/graphite is warm to the touch since it doesn’t have a metal back, and it’s not flashy, so the attention’s on the content, not the device. It’s got everything a book’s got, but there’s no paper waste, there’s no need for loads of bookshelves, there’s no need to find time to hop in the car or on the bike and head to the library or book store; and the books are cheap with best sellers starting at $9.99.

With the exception of that sensual feel of paper, you’re not really losing anything — it’s the the TRUE upgrade.

Tech like this really speaks to us. With devices this cheap, it’s conceivable that schools (and I don’t mean higher education alone) could leverage it to get students reading more often, as the ten pound, back-breaking model of the text book can quickly become a thing of the past. Text book version updates are tantamount to software patches for a few dollars, rather than mandating that the students buy a whole new text books at full price, and best of all, maybe we’ll see a possible change in the future, from Generation Fat, to Generation Lit – a generation of kids, toting their books, everywhere they go, devouring knowledge when they have a chance, and getting more out of life because of it.

Lagoa Multiphysics 1.0 – Teaser from Thiago Costa on Vimeo.

Computers and physics go together like Jimi Hendrix and a guitar. One was practically made for the other.  Computational physics was one of the very first applications of computers and, indeed, along with decrypting military codes, virtual physics was one of the very uses that lead to the development of the modern computer.

However, while certain physical problems are easily solvable with sufficient computational power, many of the more common ‘real-world’ physics that surround us are much more difficult to simulate.  While dropping your clothes in a pile on the floor might be easier than washing them, simulating the behavior of such an action would be extremely difficult.  Non-rigid physics of objects like cloth, water, putty,etc is very difficult to do.

Still, the folks over at Lagao Technologies (there’s not much there, but the owner says more is coming soon) have come up with an absolutely amazing and super powerful physics engine for representing exactly this sort of interaction! How long these take to render at video-game or movie quality is anyone’s guess, but as processing power increases there is a lot of potential here.

Lagao Technologies

Via CrunchGear.

Go Here to Fix Your iPhone 4 Antenna Problem: http://www.antenn-aid.com/

In this episode, Dwayne and Chris mourn Devindra’s absence as they discuss Apple’s huge Anti-Recall, the fate of the Verizon’s Droid Marketing platform, and where Android 2.2 is going. NOTE: This is Dwayne’s first time editing, so you might have to just drop the volume a bit. He’ll do better next time.

Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS (for other media players), stream it with the player below, or   download the episode. As always, you can email us at symbiotekpodcast@gmail.com.

Discussion Highlights

• (01:39) Apple’s Anti-Recall
  • It’s gonna cost Apple some MONEY as they give away many a bumper case
• (27:16) The Droid X launched on Thursday
  • Impressions
  • Specs
  • Efuse? What the What?
• (49:55)The Rundown!
  • (50:14) End of Nexus 1
  • (53:28) Why haven’t there been any Android Tablets launched?
  • (59:21) Michael Arrington’s new Robot…and why it costs more than the JuJu.
  • (104:19) Renewable Energy for Cell Phone Towers? Sign us up!

Featured Music

• Escaflowne, Music from the Original Series Soundtrack: “Cubic;” “Flying Dragon;’ & “Dance of Curse”

In this episode, Devindra, Dwayne, and Chris chat about the unsurprising demise of Microsoft’s Kin phones and the many internal details that have leaked out about it, as well as the iPhone 4 antenna issue.

Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS (for other media players), stream it with the player below, or   download the episode. As always, you can email us at symbiotekpodcast@gmail.com.

Discussion Highlights

• (01:39) Microsoft kills the Kin
  • Engadget’s rundown on what happened, Ars Technica’s rundown
  • Mini-Microsoft’s compilation of insider info
• (31:58) Our thoughts on iPhone 4′s antenna issues
• The Rundown!
  • (48:52) Solar powered planes
  • (52:45) Lucasfilm upset about laser replicas
  • (55:23) Microsoft’s Instaload battery tech

Featured Music

• Them Crooked Vultures “Dead End Friends”; Ryuichi Sakamoto “Self Portrait”

In the first episode of Symbiotek’s second season, Devindra, Dwayne, and Chris discuss their impressions of the iPhone 4, Amazon’s state of affairs inspired by its Woot purchase, and how technology may be used in future World Cups.

Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS (for other media players), stream it with the player below, or   download the episode. As always, you can email us at symbiotekpodcast@gmail.com.

Discussion Highlights

• (06:48) Our iPhone 4 impressions
  • We compare it to the Evo 4G, Samsung Galaxy, and iPad
• (44:14) On Amazon’s Woot purchase, and its expanding cloud
  • Including how Zappos, IMDB, and Audible fits into Amazon’s gameplan
• (1:10:08) On FIFA’s use of technology in the World Cup, and how that may change
• The Rundown
  • (1:23:00) Seagate launches 3TB external hard drive
  • (1:29:38) Blockbuster gets delisted from the NY Stock Exchange
  • (1:34:10) Hulu introduces Hulu Plus premium service
  • (1:39:45) Bloomberg says Verizon iPhone coming early next year
  • (1:45:28) Google buys travel data company ITA

Featured Music

• Bad Dudes and the One Ups – Chronotorious, Star Stealing Girl, Cave Girl – from Chronotorious and Time & Space

[Image: "Morning in the Amazon" via MarkG6 on Flickr]

The 4th iPhone, hitting shelves on 24 June, 2010. Can the Apple Empire hold onto their lead with this one?

In this episode, Devindra, Dwayne, and Chris go in depth about Apple’s WWDC, and spend some time focusing on the iPhone 4. The three get into it about iAd and whether or not Apple’s intentions here are competitive or not– especially with the new Reader feature on Safari 5. The rundown features the iPad security breach, Tested.com’s guide to ripping your data off of the Cloud, and China’s wage raising and how it might affect the US consumer. All right here, on the Symbiotek Podcast.

Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS (for other media players), stream it with the player below, or   download the episode. As always, you can email us at symbiotekpodcast@gmail.com.

Discussion Highlights

• (01:52)Apple’s WWDC Overview
  1. (03:40) iPhone 4, design, features, and, new technology development history.
     • (22:00) Looking at the iPhone 4 hadrware and projecting it onto the iPad 2 (speculation station)
     • (27:00) iMovie on the iPhone. Apple shows advanced software that steps away from the keyboard and mouse paradigms.
     • (30:42) Apple & AT&T– the relationship under strain?
     • (39:08) A call to Congress to conform wireless network standards across 4G (LTE) and changes to the AT&T data plans
  2. (46:50) Apple’s iAd and competitiveness: A breakdown.
     • (50:35) Apple block’s AdMob
     • (51:55) What Ads are to the web
     • (52:41) The debate on whether or not iAd is anti competitive or not.
     • (59:55) The Safari 5 tie-in and the lack of B2B platform support.

• (1:11:27) The Rundown!
  • (1:11:30) iPad 3G/AT&T security breach
  • (1:18:30) China Raises Wages So Prices for their goods may Rise:
  • (1:24:46) Tested show us a really, really, useful How To: Utils for ripping your data off the cloud
    • Flickr, Google Docs, Word Press, and even Tumblr

Featured Music

• Music: M83 – Teen Angst, Run Into Flowers, Gone (Live)

The Old AT&T was about transmitting Morse code and making phone calls. Today, the Data's a little more complex. And it shows.(Thanks Alice for the cert.)

About a week ago, AT&T unveiled some new data plans in advance of the WWDC iPhone 4 announcement. Rather than paying $30 for unlimited data, users would now have something of a choice: $15 for 200mb of data over 3G (dubbed DataPlus) OR $25 for 10x that much, or 2gb of data over 3G (dubbed DataPro).

There has been uproar. There’s been some serious evangelizing about how wonderful it is. We’ll see. What we know for sure, is that it looks like  AT&T’s missed an opportunity here to generate gobbs and gobbs of revenue from data-hungry subscribers, while also missing a chance making  some real waves in the industry on the customer service side, the kinds of waves that would likely siphon off yet more clients from the likes of Verizon.

But before we get into that, it’s time to drop some facts:

1. Who? – If you already had an iPhone before these changes were made by AT&T, your plan will remain the same, regardless of whether you upgrade or not.
2. iPad users?  - If you have an iPad w/ 3G capabilities, it doesn’t matter when you got it because there’s no contract with this device, only the ability to re-up with whatever 3G services they’re offering when your 30 days runs out.
3. Differences? – These plans (200mb and 2gb) are much less than those data plans advertised by Steve Jobs back on 27 January 2010 when he mentioned the ‘revolutionary new data plans’ from AT&T. Those data plans were 250mb for $14.99 and 5gb for $29.99 respectively. The current plans are 1/5th less for the same money in the case of the DataPlus and 3/5th less– less than half of the data for the same money when it comes to the DataPro.
4. Real Life Usage – This leaves many AT&T users upset but— fact no. 4 is that ~200mb a month is about what the average person with an iPhone uses on AT&T’s 3G network, so many new users won’t really feel the sting of these new plans with their average usage. Even John Gruber only uses 500mb a month. So in this case, he’s saving $5/mo.
5. Tethering – the ability to use your phone as a 3G modem for your computer (Windows pr OS X) will cost $20 /mo in addition to the DataPro and DataPlus plans… but that’s just for access to the tethering software. Users will NOT get access to any more data for that price. So while you may be able to get away with a $15 plan for your phone, if you move to $35/mo to use tethering and go over your 200mb limit, you’ll be charged $15 for every additional 200mb you use…so that’s at least $55 if you go over by as much as 1mb. If you’re gonna tether, get yourself on the DataPro plan!
6. iPad tethering? Not in the cards people. Unlike Android’s WiFi tethering capabilities, Apple and AT&T have left you in the stone age with wired, USB tethering– the same stuff that Blackberries and Treos have been able to do for cycle upon tech cycle now. This means that you need to plug your iPhone into a laptop to get that machine online over 3G. Currently, the iPad does not have a connector that supports direct connections to the iPhone. If you want to get your WiFi only iPad online in the absence of a good WiFi connexion, you’re going to have to either hack your iPhone to pull off wifi, OR, you’re gonna have to get yourself another device, like a MyFy, or an Android phone.

Now all these changes were likely made after looking intensely at the real world stats on how much people use, and how to give bandwidth hogs disinscentives to be, well, bandwith hogs. Theoretically, such actions would clear up the network and give each user access to more consistent data bandwidth and maybe even less dropped calls. The problem is that it’s all hogwash. Here’s why:

iPhone OS 4.0 or iOS4 allows for multitasking in a big way. It’s not TRUE multitasking, as some tech-heads would like it, but the fact is that it allows for things like Pandora and Rhapsody to play in the background, just as your iPod application would while you’re using the phone for something else which means that any user taking advantage of that data’s gonna use much more data without even knowing it.

The iPad…the 3G version just launched, and with it, NetFlix, ABC’s content App and even Wired’s multi-media interactive app. Unlike traditional Apple products, which focused on content creation, the iPad’s  focus is on media consumption. YouTube’s bigger and available in HD; the aforementioned applications all deliver streaming video, whether you’re in an airport or enjoying a drink at a charming street-side wifi-less cafe. The future is video people, and with 200 megabytes equating to about 20 minutes of standard quality video consumption…per month. And that doesn’t at all include emailing updated versions of Keynote or PowerPoint presentations to work, or blogging, or checking into 4Square or, well, anything else. The DataPro plan is limited to 200 minutes of standard quality video a month which leaves on with a film off of NetFlix along with a couple of TV shows from ABC’s streaming service. Again, forget email Twitter, or any other use for your 3G.

SO what do we take away from this? The first thing we take away is that WIFI IS YOUR FRIEND. The video looks better because the connection is faster, and AT&T has tens of thousands of  hotspots all around the country– mostly in the city. Starbucks cards give you at least twofree hours of fairly speedy wifi in their seemingly endless locations and feel free to be a little pushy and pester your friends for their WPA keys when you’re visiting their humble abodes. Use WiFi wherever possible and you should actually be fine.

Still, having to rely on Wifi does not leave the average consumer settled. Apple promised the world and AT&T took it away. Perhaps it’s because they’re just plain mean– but I don’t think so. They need to protect their 3G network while they build their 4G/LTE data distribution system or else their reputation will be so bad, no consumers will stick around to use it (iPhone or not). The missed opportunity here for AT&T was to charge $60 for a real unlimited data plan– even if it was only, in reality, 4GB. They’d have the money’d data hogs over there in a jiff, gathering data on their demographics, and the types of activities they do on their phones (at least), which would allow them to refine the data packages even more carefully, for near perfect price discrimination.

AT&T could have also taken care of their customers by auto-tiering the new DataPro and DataPlus plans. Switching a 200mb user to 2gb automatically should they go over and charging them $15 is much better than charing them $15 for 200 more measly megabytes. In the same vein, users of the 2gb plan who use less than 200mb should find a nice surprise on their bill when they realise that their usage left them with a $15 charge at the end of the month rather than $25. Such action would encourage lower usage.

Still, there seems room for a third tier of data. Yet AT&T offers no option for it. It seems that without offering a third, unlimited tier, that perhaps AT&T is showing their hand where their 3G network is concerned– the network simply cannot afford to care for new unlimited data subscribers at any reasonable price. And that means that in some way or another, these drastic steps are justified.

FourSquare rewards users with various badges depending on their activity.

When I first heard about Twitter in 2007, my initial reaction was something along the lines of “That is the silliest idea I have ever heard of.”  Time has proven me wrong and I was determined not to make the same mistake with the newest hot trend in the social web: GeoLocation based social networks like FourSquare, BrightKite and Gowalla.  Like Twitter, these networks took off at the uber-hip SXSW conference in Austin Texas and like Twitter, the tech world can hardly stop talking about them.   I was leery, but determined to see if all the hype is worth it.  For the last few weeks I have been dutifully living the GeoLocation lifestyle and am ready to report on my initial findings.

The first question, as with Twitter, is, “Why would you ever want to do this?” Well, to a certain extent we already do.  We share on Twitter, Facebook and via text where we are.  We invite friends and look for them. These services are a great way to meet up with people, particularly at large events like SXSW (where they first really began to take off).  So why not use the ubiquitous GPS and map applications on our smart-phones to add some clarity and structure to this type of interaction. It is fun to declare loyalty to your spots, and advertise businesses you care about! That local coffee shop? No longer let it languish in the shadow of the nearby Starbuck’s – shout it out!

There are also non-social applications to these services. They provide a way for you internally to keep track of where you have been.  This seems rather minor, but at the end of the month when going over your credit card bills how often do you wonder where a particular bill you don’t recognize came from? Check Foursquare and you’ll find out where you were on that day and rather easily narrow it down.  Secondly, Foursquare is experimenting with a sort of location based wiki at each venue.  You can leave tips for other Foursquare users who go there (try the Pad Thai and avoid the tofu) as well as notes to yourself (make an appointment to get a tune up next time I’m at the gas station).

Most of the utility and business-models of these services are relatively untapped, but they are simply fun ways to connect with friends and places in real life.  I will say one of the real advantages for nerds like myself is that they are definitely an encouragement to get out of the house and explore new places.  It is fun to check into a new place and find out what others have thought about it.  Also, you may find places you did not know that existed right in your area.  It is a very quickly growing field and it will be very interesting to see where we end up (both literally and figuratively).

Still, there are a number of hurdles that these networks will need to overcome if they are going to really take off.  As long as Foursquare is a game without any real consequences, there is no real motivation (other than obsession) to game the system.  However, as Foursquare monetizes and business start to offer real life rewards for being the mayor, people trying to game the system will become much more of a problem. How to define what constitutes a ‘check in’ and how long before you can check-in again?  Also, as the network grows, they will need to find better ways to fix broken/duplicate venues, spam-tips and other such pests of large networks.

For right now, it is fun to vie for dominance at your local venues.  Hopefully the creativity that pushed these networks will continue to increase their utility as well as their fun.

Image via Mariss007

We take a (six part) look at some of the follies of Microsoft and its enduring legacy (image thannks to Microsoft, Penguin Publishing and Chris Burnor)

In this episode, Devindra, Dwayne, chat with Patrick Roanhouse since Chris had to save the world from a disgruntled Orc Sage who was a also master of dreams (no Joke, ask him- chris@symbiotekpodcast.com). The three adventurers read the tea leaves on Apple’s overtaking Microsoft in market value, as well as why Google seems to have dropped windows from the line-up of operating systems that their workers use. Could Microsoft be in decline? They certainly seem t be lacking in the innovation station… They also get into some of the new tablet/pad computing devices coming out of MSI as well as discussing the going’s on at last week’s Tech Crunch Disrupt conference. AT&T has data plan issues in the Rundown plus a lot more. If ep 42 was the answer to the universe, ep. 43 loves begging questions!

Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS (for other media players), stream it with the player below, or   download the episode. As always, you can email us at symbiotekpodcast@gmail.com.

Patrick Roanhouse comes to us via the Plan8 podcast at www.Plan8ts.com. Check it out. Or just listen to this ep to gain some Proanhouse knowledge!

Discussion Highlights

• The Decline of Microsoft? (in 6 parts)
  1. (03:18) Microsoft has a lower Market Cap (numbers of shares multiplied by share price) than Apple.
  2. (06:40) The death of the Courier revisited- MS is lacking innovation! And great talent is leaving because of it.
  3. (09:50) Google rejects Microsoft Windows as an acceptable operating system for their employees.
  4. (19:37) The Kin phones and why they’re a symbol of a company out of touch.
  5. (27:01) Steve Jobs came back..but Bill Gates went away. Was that the beginning of the decline?
  6. (31:20) There is hope. It’s called the Xbox. X-Box live and X-Box’s Netflix implementation are nice.

• (42:00) Asus, MSI finally unveil their tablets!
• (50:33) TechCrunch Disrupt, why it was awesome, and why Yahoo!’s CEO told Arrington to f–k off. There’s also Solutu winning the start-up battlefield. Their tech is long overdue.
• (1:09:12) The Rundown!
  • (1:09:12) AT&T changes pricing. Why, and does it help consumers?
  • (1:18:55) We learned of a radical update to the Apple TV device. And we’re excited
  • (1:23:25) First HTML 5 video player @ www.videojs.com. Plays Web>M, H.264, and a whole lot more.
  • (1:25:23) Microsoft tests show that Internet Explorer 9 is totally HTML5 compatible
  • (1:27:43:) Steve Jobs says iPad will replace personal’s computer. Patrick goes into Apple’s patent portfolio to explain the integration between iPad and Personal Computer. (Yes, apple invented PCs…why they make fun of the term now, we may never know)
  • (1:30:55) The Dell Streak will cost $500 people. And it’s unlocked in the US. Patrick thinks it’s like Steak. A delicious mini tablet wonderful yummyt-bone. Dwayne disagrees. And don’t listen to Devindra – Dwayne wears Levis 527 boot cut jeans. And he’s insecure. (Who knows)

Featured Music

• Sleigh Bells – Tell ‘Em, Crown on the Ground, Rill Rill

Bangladesh, in the center of the Desi world (courtesy Google Maps)

While the rest of the technorati have been shooting Facebook down left and right, claiming it’s time has come and calling for its demise (yeah, we’re guilty of it too ; – ) Facebook has been making moves.

The AFP reported today that Facebook has been accepted into Bangladesh– that is the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission removed the ban it previously had on the site. Now the 162 million people of that nation can sing its praises and loathe its ever-confusing privacy policies.

That said, don’t expect to see a whole bunch photos of drunk Bangladeshi co-eds precariously posing, fully intoxicated all over the sidewalk as one would in say….Britain three years ago. Rather, Facebook has promised to remove “offending images and content.”

Personally, I love to see how different cultures make use of Facebook. With more than 400 million users, and perhaps north of 160 million more, it’s gonna be great to see our Desi friends share all that they have to offer to each other and the rest of the world through the social media Zuck’s platform. I really interested in seeing how they deal with “blaspheomous content” though, considering that it’s nearly impossible to limit that stuff when you have a profile here in the US.

What’s interesting here is that despite all the sketchiness that any humongous social media has to offer (you could really input any SMN from MySpace to LinkedIn), Facebook’s troubles started with the posting of some photos of the Prophet Muhammed back on 29 May of 2010. Islamic culture is traditionally deeply offended at image-based and physical depictions of Muhammed, so much so that even their historical cinema only goes as far as to show a hand or a foot when he’s characterized. The BBC also reports that YouTube was also banned from the nation for hosting videos of Bangledeshi politicians angrily arguing with one another.

It’s interesting to see Facebook, an American company, complying with these directives. A while back, Google, another American company, tried to leave American ideals like free speech out of the business equation when it opened up its services overseas which China. We all know how that worked out…

The bottom line is that being principled matters. The default cannot be social when there are things that your populations aren’t allowed to share– even across cultural boundaries. I’m glad we can export some of the best parts of Americanism overseas, but it saddens me that we often push the monetary gains before the social ones. Especially when it comes to technologies defined by their social elements.

When the first computers were being developed, every functional aspect of the computer had to be programmed into every program.  Want your program to use a keyboard? You would have to program your punch-cards to handle this.  Want to output to a printer? You have to do that too.  Eventually, machines became powerful enough and the computer science sophisticated enough that the handling of these basic aspects of the computer were handled by the operating system.  It managed the system so that users and programmers could focus on the higher-level operations that they wanted to be doing.

Right now the social web is in very much the same position as those early computers.  Ways to share information, links, comments, pictures, videos and more are unending.  What are you thinking? Post it to Twitter.  Want to share pictures of that crazy party you had last weekend? Post them to Facebook. Email them to your friends. Want to share pictures of your cousin’s first child? Go on Facebook.  It is getting almost too overwhelming to figure out how to share it all. Want to tell your friends where you are? Check into Foursquare.

Part of the complexity is that different social networks are built around different types of sharing, but the deeper complexity is that human networks are not like relational databases.  We don’t share our weekend experiences with our boss and neither do we share our work details with our family.  Some of this is because of actual privacy concerns, but more often it is simply about which people in our lives care about which aspects of our life.  My technical musings on Python are just noise to my family.

What is needed is an operating system for our social interactions that can actually help smooth over these various different systems.

Right now the internet functions as this system.  It enables the sharing and, via its various technical protocols allows us to share data between our friends.  However, getting the system to work in a human way rather than a technical way is the next large challenge.  In a sense we have the operating part of the system, but not the GUI.  The GUI smoothes over all the technical aspect’s of the computer and allow its power to be harnessed in a very human way.

Very little progress I think is being made in this direction.  The more successful projects like Facebook’s Facebook Connect, Twitter’s OAuth and OpenID seek simply to unify your identity around the internet.  More ambitious projects like Disqus aim to unify types of behaviors (in this case, commenting) across different services.  There are hints of real high-level SocialOS apps with projects like Diaspora, Pip.io, Facebook’s Connect and OpenGraph, as well as services like Google Buzz, but none of them really make interacting with people in cyberspace feel as natural as physical space.  They feel more like social interactions that are squeezed into the mold formed by relational databases and API requests.

Part of the problem is that it is really uncertain just exactly what a system like this would look like.  We are not always sure ourselves where we want and so encoding the nebulous nature of interactions into literal code is an extremely complex enterprise that requires people who understand, not just computers, but people.

In this episode, Devindra, Dwayne, and Chris discuss the Google’s recent developer conference, Google I/O – Android 2.2, Android Marketplace, the opening of Google Wave and Google TV! They spend some time on  the first artificially created cell  and then go on to talk about Tesla’s potential new partnership with auto-giant Toyota concerning the procurement of a Northern California factory for their upcoming Model S. In the Rundown they go over everything from the way MetaCafe saved some Russians from enslavement via human trafficking, to the first app store ever— the Star Wars Expanded Universe?

Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS (for other media players), stream it with the player below, or   download the episode. You can email us at symbiotekpodcast@gmail.com.

Discussion Highlights

• (02:40) Google I/O– the Google Developer Conference: mindblowing item after mind blowing item
• (06:00) What made Google I/O feel different (the difference between Google & Apple?)
• (13:47) Deep into Google TV
• (32:09) YouTube “Lean Back”
• (33:39) Android 2.2: Froyo – Up to 5x Faster than Android 2.1
• (47:33) Chris calls out a disctintion: Apple’s a design Company while Google’s an engineering company.
• (49:47) Google Mobile Adsense
• (50:58) Digs at Apple by Google I/O speakers. But! Isn’t Apple is the reason why Android is so robust?
• (58:05) Google’s Android Marketplace (Music Store + Androd App Station)
• (58:38) Google Wave, Google Translate as an Android App and real-time subtitles.
• (1:05:01) The artificially created cell. Are Cylons next!?!
• (1:12:20) Moore’s Law for Biotech? Moore’s Law at all?
• (1:16:43) Have Tesla and Toyota Struck a deal? News on the upcoming Model S.
• The Rundown!
  • (1:25:11) Apple ready to sell 24 million 4th generation iPhone devices at launch
  • (1:28:45) Google allows for 3rd party gmail apps.
  • (1:31:21) WebM/VP8 already threatened by potential MPEG LA patent pool.
  • (1:39:00) MetaFilter uses the power of social networking to save some young Russian immigrants from human traffickers.
  • (1:42:21) The 4Chan effect revisited
  • (1:44:30) 30th Anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back. Geek out!!!

Featured Music

• My Morning Jacket – One Last Holiday, Mahgeetah, Steam Engine

In this episode, Devindra, Dwayne, and Chris discuss the Android operating system’s rise to the number two spot behind Blackberry,and where it’s headed, Google’s possible tablet collaboration with Verizon, and they spend some time on the recent lashback against Facebook. The guys also muse on how the independent music movement is making use of web 2.0 technologies.

Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS (for other media players), stream it with the player below, or   download the episode. You can email us at symbiotekpodcast@gmail.com.

Discussion Highlights

• (02:57) The Rise of Android - Google takes the No. 2 spot in smartphone sales for Q1 2010.
• (16:39) Sprint announces release date for HTC Evo 4G – June 4, 2010.
• (23:03) More Facebook Backlash – Early De-Dopters (we told ya so) and the Uncanny Valley of FB Privacy.
• (35:16) And Facebook’s got multiple technical glitches to sort out.
• (40:20) Even social game giant Zynga may leave Facebook! But why?
• (50:00) The Music Revolution – is it here yet? How some bands are using Web 2.0 tech to make it without the recording industry.
• (58:12) Remembering the most excellent and righteous term: WebMaster
• The Rundown!
  • (1:00:56) Eco Eco Eco — China’s poop-powered meat factory (no joke!)
  • (1:06:15)Europe Finds Clean Energy in Trash.
  • (1:08:41) Obsolete phone boxes saved by rise of the electric vehicle (via Do the Green Thing)
  • (1:11:03) Microsoft announces October 2010 launch date for Natal.
  • (1:15:38) Blippy Users Streaming $1.5 Million in Purchases Per Week

Featured Music

• Shiro Sagisu – “Magmadiver”; ” Both Of You, Dance Like You Want To Win!” ; “Barefoot in the Park” – from the Neon Genesis Evangelion Soundtrack

[We talked extensively about Facebook and privacy this week on the show.  Stay tuned for our upcoming episode.]

The uncanny valley is an effect in computer graphics where as depictions of humans become more and more realistic, they become more off-putting.  Yosemite Sam looks nothing like a human and is not nearly as creepy as Tom Hanks in the Polar Express.  As Facebook makes its transition from private college network to open-network a similar uncanny valley of privacy emerges.  We are comfortable sharing privately online via chat and email and many of us are comfortable being totally open online via Twitter, FourSquare and Blippy, but the kind of open, kind of closed nature of Facebook’s network is extremely un-nerving.

Facebook’s F8 developer conference kicked off a little over two weeks ago, wherein Facebook announced a number of major changes and updates to their platform, api and privacy settings. At the time, most of the reactions were somewhat muted. Developers, journalists and users waited to see what the updates would really mean going forward.

The past few weeks however have seen going backlash against the service. Several major vulnerabilities were uncovered, while simultaneously, a growing number of technology personalities and early adapters like Leo Laporte, Peter Rojas and Matt Cullen have deleted or deactivated their accounts from the service.  The EU has written a letter to Facebook, complaining of the change.  Even some of Facebook’s biggest supporters are writing open letter’s to Mark Zuckerberg on how to fix some of the problems.

It is nevertheless somewhat ironic that so many high profile figures are leaving. Leo Laporte is a particularly good example. Leo seems to live most of his life in front of a camera. He streams his location to Twitter via Foursquare, and generally seems unopposed to living his life in public. The same goes for a number of my friends who have left. They are podcasters and Twittering and bloggers, not people who wish to live in a hermitage of offline seclusion.

Part of the reason is that freedom and control and openness are core values of many of the early pioneers in the internet world. It is clear that Facebook shares none of these value. By making their privacy settings extremely difficult to understand, rolling out major updates to the site with disregard for the userbase’s interests or desires, and even by the way they treat some of their biggest partners (like their developing spat with Zynga), they have shown a desire to control and direct just about every facet of how the internet works. Certainly they are entitled to do what is in the best interest of their business, but they seem to be going in a direction that many people are increasingly uncomfortable with.

I would like to stop here and preemptively respond to some of the common defenses of Facebook and privacy.  First, although it is technically possible for savvy users to maintain a fairly private profile, it is entirely too difficult for the vast majority of Facebook’s users.  Certainly people should be more savvy, but, having worked for 6 years in technical support, I realized that designing a system for what users should do rather than what they actually do is destined to fail.  Secondly, although it is true that everything on the web is potentially leak-able to the general public, there is a big difference between one of my friends sharing that information, and the service provider doing so.  As more and more of our communication and socializing happens online, there is still just as much  as much a need for a place of relative privacy amongst friends as there always has been offline.  Certainly friends can back-stab or leak information about you online as much as offline, but that is a far cry from the service provider forcing that openness.  Thomas Baekdal has a spectacular blog article on this principle, which is well worth a read.

Facebook is marching towards openness, which is unfortunate because we could really all use a place of intimacy on the web.

(Image via Ελεγεία και σάτιρες)

[Updated to add additional relevant links]