Tech News 2Night 130 (Transcript)

[Top TN2 Animation ] Tonight! Netflix's 28 page 'comment' to the FCC, Amazon leaks "Kindle Unlimited", and will Siri and Watson team-up in the Apple/IBM partnership Tech News 2Night is Next! [TWiT Open] [Main TN2 Open] This is Tech News 2Night Episode #130, for WEDNESDAY JULY 16, 2014 This episode of Tech News 2Night is brought to you by NatureBox. Order great-tasting, healthy snacks delivered right to your door. Forget the vending machine, and get in shape with healthy, delicious treats like Coconut Date Energy Bites! To get 50% off your first box go to naturebox.com/twit. That’s naturebox.com/twit. I'm Jason Howell, Let's get right to the Tech Feed! As you’ve probably heard, the FCC has extended the comments period deadline on net neutrality from yesterday to Friday due to overwhelming interest -- and after their website crashed yesterday. Now Netflix has submitted to the FCC their very on 28 page comment regarding net neutrality. The company believes that proposed internet fast lanes would be detrimental not only to customers but to innovation as well. Netflix waged much of its ire directly toward Comcast and Verizon saying the ISPs held subscribers at ransom over delivery speeds. Which forced Netflix to pay “tolls” with the ISP’s. One of the key arguments Netflix makes is to suggest the reclassification of the ISP’s as “Title II” services- similar to public utilities. Comcast and others say reclassification would hinder their ability to innovate. Netflix counters this saying “Paid for priority arrangements undermine an ISP’s incentive to build continue building capacity into its network.” / Amazon posted a few test pages to the site that spilled the beans on an upcoming ebook subscription service dubbed ""Kindle Unlimited"", offering ""unlimited access to over 600,000 titles and thousands of audiobooks on any device"" for $9.99 a month. Amazon has since removed those test pages, but Gigaom was able to pull a promotional video for the service, further legitimizing the as yet officially unannounced service. According the video, the service will include a free 30-day trial. There were 638,416 books listed on Amazon's site when the page was live, but none of those appeared to be from the five biggest publishers: that's HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, Macmillan and Hachette, so choice might be limited at launch. / Speaking of e-books, Apple might be on the hook for as much as $400 million dollars if it loses its appeal in the price-fixing case that charges the company with conspiring to inflate e-book prices with five different publishers. Apple agreed to pay the settlement if its found guilty, though the company reiterated in a statement ""we did nothing wrong and we believe a fair assessment of the facts will show it."" " / Lookout PayPal, credit card giant Visa just announced Checkout; their system for making payments on mobile and PC’s with a few clicks. This the second attempt at a payment system for the company. You might remember V.me from 2011 (or not). Visa says the new system can be built directly into e-commerce sites making paying for a cart easier, and in as fast as five seconds. “This is not a wallet, it is a digital form of the card you love, ” said senior VP Sam Shrauger. Launch partners include Neiman Marcus, Pizza Hut, Staples and United Airlines. / The US Senate today passed a bill that would allow mobile phone users to unlock their devices, which would make it possible for users to switch carriers with that device once their contract was up. The Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act, passed unanimously, and if it passes the House, will then head to President Barack Obama for his signature. The bill would effectively overturn a January 2013 decision that ceased legal protection of mobile phone unlocking, restoring to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act an exemption that once allowed users to unlock their phones without consequence. / coming up, driverless cars and the potential for evil, according to the FBI and next I'll chat with Devindra Hardawar of VentureBeat about the possibility of Apple's Siri and IBM's Watson teaming up. [AD] but first... I’m going to say something that’s going to surprise you -- You should be snacking more! Yes, you need to be snacking more! Why? I’ve discovered Nature Box. Nature Box snacks have ZERO trans fats, ZERO high fructose corn syrup -- and NOTHING artificial. Nature Box sends great tasting snacks right to your door with free shipping anywhere in the U.S. Here’s how it works: Click on the “Continue” button to choose between 3 subscription options. Then place your order. Once you’re a member, you can select which snacks you’d like in your monthly box. You can select by dietary needs: Vegan, Soy Free, Gluten Conscious, Lactose Free, Nut Free and Non GMO. You can also select by taste: Savory, Sweet or Spicy. The next time you get cranky and hungry and are ready to eat anything, remember Nature Box. Snack guilt free with Coconut Date Energy Bites, Santa Fe Corn Stix, Pear Praline Crunch and over 100 more healthy choices! [[Offer/ Call to Action]] To get 50% off your first box go to naturebox.com/twit. Stay full! Stay strong! Go to naturebox.com/twit. And we thank Nature Box for their support of Tech News 2Night" [Segment #2] So, I want to welcome to the show Devindra Hardawar, Senior Editor of MobileBeat at VentureBeat! Thank you so much for joining me on your second TWiT show of the day! We had queued up a discussion on Jawbone initially and we will get to that in a second, but first, shortly before air, you published an article to VentureBeat that talks about the possibility of Siri getting cozy with IBM's Watson supercomputer, in light of yesterday's IBM and Apple partnership announcement. Has either company confirmed or denied this possibility and what kind of an impact could this have on Apple's digital assistant?" Alright, moving on to wearables, Jawbone, one of the main stays in fitness trackers, is updating its app with something new that should appeal to quite a lot of people. -Devindra, what new functionality does the update bring? -What is different about Jawbone's approach to food tracking? -Food tracking has notoriously been one of those features that people really want, but when it comes to actually tracking the food items throughout the day, it quickly becomes cumbersome and then pretty easy to drop altogether as a result. You've been a Jawbone Up user for two years now… do you think Jawbone got it right? Have they brought elegance to something that's historically been extremely difficult for users? -We all expect Apple to come out with its own wearable soon enough, and Google introduced its Android Wear platform at Google IO a few weeks back. Are features such as this enough for Jawbone to continue to set itself apart from the competition? Thanks so much, Devindra! Where can people follow you online?" [Kicker!] and finally... We here at TN2 love the idea of driverless cars. Well according to an FBI report obtained by the “The Guardian” The Bureau believes that “bad actors” could use them as a lethal weapon and revolutionize high speed car chases. And that’s not all. The report states that criminals could multitask. For example: shoot at law enforcement while the getaway car drives them away. The FBI does believe that autonomous vehicles will help reduce the high number of traffic accidents-- And it will make tailing a suspect simpler. The report states: “algorithms can control the distance that the patrol car is behind the target to avoid detection or intentionally make opposite turns at intersections, yet successfully meet up at later points with the target.” See! It’s a win-win for law enforcement and the criminals! [good bye] That's it for this edition of Tech News 2Night. Subscribe to this show at Twit.tv/tn2, and write us at tn2@twit.tv Don't miss our morning news program, Tech News Today, tomorrow and every weekday at 10am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern. I'm Jason Howell, thanks for watching.