Tech News Roundup May 2013

Tonight on GeekNights, we run through a tech news roundup, covering Yahoo's acquisition of Tumblr, Yahoo's updates to Flickr, the FDA's upcoming decisions regarding triclosan in antibacterial soap, the first real augmented reality overlay glasses, and Yahoo in general. Rym challenges you to set up MRTG, and we talk at length about Scott's newfound love of reality television thanks to Strip Search and Kitchen Nightmares.

When your Meat Dies

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider what happens (and should happen) to your bits (i.e., your emails, tweets, hard drive, and collected digital output of a human lifespan), when your meat stops working (i.e., you die). Law, society, human drama, and fear make it a much more complicated issue than you might realize. Do the dead have rights? Should they?

In the news, the Ask.com Toolbar is malware, Ninite is the closest thing to a Windows repo you'll ever find, and Google Authenticator just implements TOTP, which you can totally use for two-factor authentication in anything. Also, Adobe updated their software suite to be subscription only (and this is a good thing).

RSS and Google Reader

Tonight on GeekNights, in light of Google Reader's death, we discuss why we've been saying for years that RSS is, at best, dying a slow death. We further discuss whether or not it's best to call the police on an agitated, aggressive homeless man, or to let him remain agitated and aggressive on his own. In the news, CISPA's passing the house gave us a nice list of who to never vote for again, baseball coding software couldn't account for a crazy thing that happened in a game, and acetaminophen may affect the brain in ways you didn't realize.

Also, Futurama was re-canceled, and GeekNights is going to Australia!

High Bandwidth Content Distribution

Tonight on GeekNights, we consider how video (and other high bandwidth one-way content) is distributed on the Internet, including a brief history of satellite television in North America and how its unresolved issues remain to this day. In the news, FOX threatens to go cable-only if Aereo isn't shut down, different levels of shady are occurring with ISPs and HTML content, and France doesn't understand the Streisand Effect. Rym enjoyed a bomb scare outside his office, Amazon amazingly mis-delivered a package, wallets seem to be the hot thing to Kickstart, and Lawdingo seems like an interesting way to find a lawyer.

Everyday Technology

Tonight on GeekNights, after considering surprise evictions of illegal apartments, pit traps, punji sticks, esoteric specialist problems with pypy, and the things they don't teach you at RIT, we consider the technology we use every day. From cameras to GeekNights' audio studio, cell phones to other cell phones! Everything!

Augmented Reality

Tonight on GeekNights, in light of the recent opening of applications for early access to Google Glass (nevermind forum discussions), we discuss the promise of Augmented Reality. But first, we discuss non-standard uses of naan (get it?), New York groceries, the rise and fall of SuperDaE, and a surprising "solution" to the problem of poor Youtube performance. Also, the GeekNights Gaming Grande Prix is still accepting applications!

Routers

Tonight on GeekNights, Rym saves a dead hard drive with one of the oldest tricks in the book, rumors are going around about an Apple watch interface (in light of the recent Pebble shipments forthcoming and talk of Corning Willow Glass), professors and educators seem to be very quick to reject technology in the classroom, and we answer whether or not you can erase yourself from the Internet.

Don't forget we have both GeekNights Presents and many of our convention lectures up on Youtube! And submit your panels, workshops, presentations, and lectures to ConnectiCon 2013!

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