Tech News Today 1757

The National Security Agency is ending its warrant-less wiretapping program that targeted American communications that in any way mentioned the names of foreigners currently under surveillance. The NSA issued a statement saying it will end the program, as well as delete the majority of upstream data generated from it.

The voice of the Amazon Echo is getting more human. The company says new Speech Synthesis Markup Language or SSLM will allow developers to create skills that feature whispering, bleeping out swear words, spelling out words, speaking at different volumes or rates, and more. So, it's only a matter of time before the robot steals our jobs.

Facebook is riddled with video content that has been lifted and republished from the original sources. New updates to Facebook’s Rights Manager will now allows rights holders to “claim ad earnings” from those videos, routing revenue generated from a video to them instead of into the pockets of the pirater.

Our Sorry Not Sorry segment is back, this time we discuss whether Wired magazine still has cultural relevance.

Plus we'll tell you more about the self-driving Lexus that Apple is using to test its self-driving software and a robot that can build a house out of spray foam. And finally, Sam Machkovech from Ars Technica joins us to chat about Einstein, Mario Kart, and big budget VR.

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Links

• N.S.A. Halts Collection of Americans’ Emails About Foreign Targets
• Amazon’s Alexa can now whisper, bleep out swear words, and change its pitch
• Facebook lets content owners claim ad earnings of pirated videos
• WIRED’S FAKE TREND STORY FAILED ON SO MANY LEVELS
• Check Out the Lexus That Apple's Using to Test Self-Driving Car Technology
• The Young Hackers Who Will Shape the World Deserve More Than Our Lists
• A chat with Ron Howard after watching his Einstein series premiere
• EINSTEIN: CHAPTER ONE
• Small changes don't add much, but this is portable Mario Kart at its finest.
• Wilson's Heart
• MIT’s giant mobile 3D printer can build a building in 14 hours, and some day it may be headed to Mars