Tech News 2Night 46 (Transcript)

[Top TN2 Animation ] Tonight... Google announces Android for wearables, the NSA records 100% of a foreign country's phone calls, and would you follow orders from a robot? Tech News 2Night is Next! [TWiT Open] [Main TN2 Open- wait for cue] This is Tech News 2Night Episode 46, for Tuesday March 18, 2014 This episode of Tech News 2Night is brought to you by lynda.com. Learn what you want, when you want, with access to over 2,000 high-quality online courses--all for one low monthly price. To try it free for 7 days, visit lynda.com/tn2. That’s L-Y-N-D-A dot com slash T-N-2. I'm Sarah Lane, Joining me now to talk about our top story is Joseph Volpe, Senior Editor with Engadget. You wrote the story: "Google's Android Wear project adds HTC, LG, Motorola, Qualcomm, Fossil and more for new smartwatches’ (interview) //Thanks Joseph... where can people find your work and connect with you? / Coming up.. the NSA records 100% of foreign country's phone calls, Apple's new-ish releases, Google drops Voice, and robots overloads pressure humans to work! [AD] This episode of Tech News 2Night is brought to you by lynda.com. With lynda.com’s easy-to-follow video tutorials, you can learn at your own pace—on your own terms—from industry experts. With a lynda.com subscription, members get unlimited access to thousands of online video courses covering a wide range of technical skills, creative techniques, and business strategies. Want to improve your photography, master new software, boost your web design skills, or learn programming? At lynda.com, you’ll find top-quality videos on hundreds of different subjects. You can watch from your computer, tablet, or mobile device. 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That’s L-Y-N-D-A dot com slash T-N-2. and Now let's hop over to the day's big stories in the Tech Feed! / According to a classified summary supplied by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden to sources speaking with the Washington Post, the NSA has built a surveillance system capable of recording “100 percent” of a foreign country’s telephone calls, which allows the agency to rewind conversations up to 30 days. So, collection systems are recording every recordable conversation throughout a country, storing billions of them in a 30-day rolling buffer that clears the oldest calls as new ones come in, according to the summary. The program is called MYSTIC and began in 2009. The Washington Post is withholding information about which countries the US has employed MYSTIC at the request of US officials. In a statement, Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the National Security Council, declined to comment on “specific alleged intelligence activities," but said “new or emerging threats” are “often hidden within the large and complex system of modern global communications, and the United States must consequently collect signals intelligence in bulk in certain circumstances in order to identify these threats.” / Apple has added a new iPHone to its lineup - a 5C with 8 gigabytes of storage. Previously, the smallet model was 16 gigabytes. The new 5c is only available the UK, France, Germany, Australia, and China, for now. This new 8 GB model might boost sales as a lower-cost option that's more attractive than the 8 GB iPhone 4s, though the 4S is still an option in the markets where the 8 gb 5C has been introduced. Apple is also reintroducing the iPad 4, which replaces the iPad 2, the last remaining device that used on Apple's outdated 30-pin connector. Its iPad 4 successor has the current Lightning connector, in line with the iPad Air, iPad mini, and iPad mini Retina. / 9to5Google is reporting that Google Voice is getting the axe, with its functionality incorporated into the G+ Hangouts apps on both Android and iOS. VoIP-to-phones is said to be integrated into the Hangouts iOS and Android apps so that users can make (and receive) VoIP calls directly from a Google phone number. Google recently allowed Hangouts to take over SMS on Android phones, and this move would seem consistent with Google organizing all telephony communications into Hangouts. No word on an official switch date yet. / [Kicker!] Finally, researchers at the Human Computer Interaction Lab at the University of Manitoba in Canada studying human-robot interaction and obedience have found that human subjects will follow a robot's orders to perform tasks more than they would another human, even when they don't want to. Human subjects were told to perform a number of tasks, from singing to renaming large batches of files. The researchers explained that "Even after trying to avoid the task or engaging in arguments with the robot, participants still (often reluctantly) obeyed its commands," and that "These findings highlight that robots can indeed pressure people to do things they would rather not do, supporting the need for ongoing research into obedience to robotic authorities." / 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 Our next newscast is tomorrow at 10am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern. I'm Sarah Lane, thanks for watching. [Close]