Episode 211
House of Representatives GOP members look to limit photos and video from chambers.
The US sanctions Russia for meddling in electoral affairs.
The CRTC (Canada’s FCC) claims high speed internet as an essential resource.
An X-Prize is being sought for a real Tricorder.
The price of solar is going down.
In France a road that generates solar power is being tested.
Spoiler Alert:
There are TWO microphones involved on this show.
We talk La La Land, Assassin’s Creed, and Rogue One.
Episode 210
British police mug suspect to access unlocked phone.
Thieves can guess credit card number details in minutes.
Amazon unveils cashier-less grocery store.
Trend alert – Rage Rooms for taking out anger on physical things.
800 scientists sign open letter to Trump on climate change.
The Elysium project opens source of legacy WoW servers.
Fitbit buys (and shuts down) Pebble watch.
Biocrude fuel can be refined from sewage.
Researchers 3d-print laser-goggles for a bird. Pics included. Adorbs.
Spoiler Alert:
We Are Stargate Nerds.
Episode 209
Hacker ransoms MUNI in San Francisco.
The Mirai botnet is now over 400,000 nodes and is available for rent for DDoS attacks.
Google’s Deepmind is better at reading lips than a person.
Google and Blizzard are collaborating to train the Deepmind AI on Starcraft.
SpaceX is looking to launch 3x the number of satellites around Earth for internet access.
The internet archive (archive.org) is creating an offsite backup in Canada.
A hospital in Australia is dedicating two floors for onsite bioprinting.
Spoiler Alert:
This episode was real short!
Episode 208
A Very Special Episode of the podcast. We talked a lot about the Election.
Highly recommended to watch the season finale of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
We had a lot to say, and it was mostly a cathartic show. We hope to be somewhat back to normal next week.
Bonus link: Donald Trump Buttplug.
Spoiler Alert:
2016 is Not A Thing.
Episode 207
Ads may use ultrasound to link your devices.
A Dr. Seuss and Star Trek mashup gets a Cease and Desist order.
During testing NASA’s Scout system for detecting asteroids finds one.
Spinach can be used to detect explosives.
IBM’s Watson AI agrees with oncologists (non-paywalled link here).
Male birth control goes though a trial phase. (Bonus link with less snark)
Iceland has an election which may involve their crowdsourced constitution.
Spoiler Alert:
We talk a little meta-politics at the end.
Episode 206
One in two (that’s like every other person) is potentially in a police facial recognition database.
A proposed sanctuary for whales in the South Atlantic was blocked.
Iceland intends to drill 5km to liquid magma for geothermal energy.
Sweden bans camera drones in public places.
Uber purchased self-driving truck company Otto which made its first delivery of beer.
Astronaut spines are shrinking in space.
A parasite causes mice and other animals to be unafraid of cats.
Researchers are testing a vaccine cocktail for the common cold.
Spoiler Alert:
It’s not all bad in Scandinavia.
There’s now a robot that does pushups and sweats.
Does being compelled to unlock a phone violate the 4th and 5th Amendments?
Bill Belichick and others in the NFL are done with the MS Surface tablets.
Tesla to include self-driving hardware (but not yet software) in all production cars.
Mercedes has taken a stand on the trolley problem.
Scientists have figured out how to reduce a person’s self control.
Nintendo’s Switch will be a combination console and mobile gaming system.
When cows are fed seaweed it reduces their methane output by 99%
Spoiler Alert:
We’re on the road to 216!
The NFL bans gifs from the teams and players.
Argentina advocates e-voting but also advocates making auditing those votes illegal.
In the wave of creepy clown news, McDonald’s moves to reduce Ronald McDonald’s presence.
Tyson Foods buys a 5% stake in veggie burger company Beyond Meat.
Silkworms fed carbon nanotubes weave super-silk that conducts electricity.
CoverGirl cosmetics adds their first male spokesmodel.
A company makes a machine to extract moisture from the air for arid climates.
Spoiler Alert:
We talked just a little bit about the second Star Wars Rogue One trailer
Episode 203
California standardizes so its police departments use a statewide, open source, use-of-force incident database.
Elon Musk unveils very grand plans to send people to Mars a hundred at a time.
NASA announces plumes of liquid (maybe water) on Europa, a moon of Jupiter.
A 2 mile beer pipeline is the first of its kind in Bruges, Belgium.
Amoeba Records gets a license to sell marijuana from its Berkeley store.
A 25 year old demonstrates a polymer which kills bacteria without using antibiotics.
Russian researchers capture dolphins speaking in sentences.
Spoiler Alert:
We saw Hell or High Water (Thing) and the Magnificent Seven remake (Not A Thing!)
Episode 202
LA cops use a bomb disposal robot to grab a suspect’s shotgun to end a standoff.
Wells Fargo Bank admits 5300 fired for creating 2 million fake accounts.
Woman sues smart sex-toy company We-Vibe for collecting usage data about their sex toys.
The Chinese space agency admits the Tiangong space station is in a rapidly decaying orbit.
Sandisk announces they will produce a 1TB flash memory SD card.
Twitter relaxes their 140 character limit slightly in an attempt to make it more simple.
Researchers develop a method to guess people’s emotional state by wirelessly monitoring breathing and heartrate.
The US army is testing a new ambidextrous grenade.
There’s a robot tank that can shoot down mosquitos. With lasers!
Spoiler Alert:
Alan is a man with simple needs.