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A Look Into What The Manning Verdict Means For The Tech Industry
Aug 03, 12:51AM
The long-running trial of Wikileaks whistle-blower Pfc. Bradley Manning came to a key (if preliminary) conclusion this week, with Judge Denise Lind announcing a verdict that contained both good and bad news for Manning: He has been found innocent of the very serious charge of "aiding the enemy," but guilty of 19 other lesser counts. His sentencing for these crimes has yet to be determined. It's a situation that has captured the interest of many people but has especially meaningful implications for the tech industry (and the people who use its products), so it was a big pleasure to have Rainey Reitman stop by the TechCrunch TV studio this week to help elucidate what it all means. As the co-founder and COO of the Freedom of the Press Foundation and a full-time staffer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Reitman has been keeping close tabs on the Manning case since Manning's leaks of classified U.S. military documents first came to light back in 2010 -- in fact, in her spare time she founded the Bradley Manning Support Network to help support Manning in his trial. There are few people more well-versed in all aspects of this subject than she.Verizon Reportedly Provides British Spy Agency Access To Its Undersea Internet Cables
Aug 03, 12:04AM
It became known in June that the GCHQ, Britain’s NSA equivalent, was directly tapping into the fiber optic cables that carry Internet traffic around the world. However, at that time, what telecommunications companies take part in the program was not known. We now know. As reported in the Guardian today, the German newspaper Süddeutsche published the list of companies that take part in the program known as ‘Tempora:’ BT, Vodafone, four small providers, and Verizon. Verizon stands out as a key ISP in the United States, and company that calls the United States home. To have it allow a foreign government to tap into its fiber cables feels slightly different than a domestic firm allowing the same from its home government. Edward Snowden leaked the material that led to the uncovering of the participants of Tempora. According to the leaks, Verizon’s secret name as part of the program was ‘Darcon.’ The article goes on to note that having the participating companies now exposed will lead to “dismay” at the GCHQ, as consumers may be not too pleased to learn that “their private data and intimate emails have been secretly passed to a government spy agency.” The British really do have a knack for understatement. When the GCHQ program first came to light, it was noted for its relative youth – less than two years – and the time that it holds information that it intercepts: 30 days. The NSA is generally thought to retain data for a far longer period. Tempora exists alongside other GCHQ efforts that go by the names ‘Mastering the Internet' and 'Global Telecoms Exploitation.’ Not exactly names that are hard to grok. As a three, they appear to provide the GCHQ with essentially limitless access to the communications information of British citizens – if they desired to run the search, of course – with the Guardian noting in June that “recordings of phone calls, the content of email messages, entries on Facebook and the history of any internet user's access to websites” are collected by the efforts. And now the firms taking part in Tempora are publicly known. It’s now up to the citizens of Britain to stand up and say their piece. Either this sort of activity will be tolerated, or it will not be. The British and American governments are also said to have deep ties when it comes to surveillance, causing some to worryCBS Blocks Time Warner Cable Subscribers From Watching Full Episodes On CBS.com
Aug 02, 11:37PM
A dispute between CBS and Time Warner Cable over retransmission fees for its broadcast content has spilled over onto the web, with a blackout of television programming also being extended to CBS' online properties. In the wake of Time Warner Cable dropping the CBS and Showtime signals in most of its markets, the broadcaster has decided to block access to full-episode viewing on CBS.com.University Of California Approves Major Open Access Policy To Make Research Free
Aug 02, 11:14PM
Good news for fans of the scientific method: the largest and most influential university system on the planet will be giving out its research for free. After 6-year-long fight with the for-profit academic publishing industry, the University of California Senate approved open access standards for research on all 10 campuses. The policy is major win for those who want to see academic research made public, rather than behind the pricy paywalls of big publishers. Last year, Harvard Library penned a memo urging the university’s 2,100 faculty to boycott for-profit academic research databases and instead submit articles to lower-cost open access journals. Universities pay millions for access to their colleague’s research, with subscriptions costs up to $40,000 for a single journal. Publishing, too, can cost many times more for more prestigious closed-access journals. Nature reports that it can cost $5,000 to publish in the biology journal, Cell Reports, but only $1,350 for the most popular open-access journal PLoS ONE. "It’s still ludicrous how much it costs to publish research,” said molecular biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, Michael Eisen. The open access movement has friends in high-places. Recently, in response to a WeThePeople petition, the White House pledged a whopping $100 million to promote open access and to require all federally-funded research to be free of charge. There are issues with open access; it costs money to curate high-quality peer-review and market the research. Many academic papers take years to write, and its a risky proposition to leave it in the hands of an experimental publisher. But, speaking as a writer who likes to include academic research in my articles, open access could not come soon enough. Media outlets get inundated with research findings, but often can’t get access to the articles to report on them critically. Open access may not be perfect, but it is the future. The more people use it, the better the journals will become. And, ultimately, there will be little need for closed access at all.Developed By Literacy Experts, Learn With Homer Launches On The iPad To Change How Kids Learn To Read
Aug 02, 11:05PM
Stephanie Hua spent the last ten years pushing for educational reform, first as the CEO of the Fund for Public Schools under former Chancellor of New York’s Department of Education, Joel Klein, and Caroline Kennedy, before becoming senior advisor to David Coleman at Student Achievement Partners (SAP). But as much time as she spent as a reformer on “the inside,” when it came time for Dua’s daughter to learn how to read, she struggled to find any quality materials for parents that could help get their kids started on the right path. With the help of former Google engineer Iris Tang, Dua created Learn With Homer, a business and reading app for the iPad of the same name, which launched on the App Store this week. The idea was to transform how kids age 3 to 6 learn how to read, but not just by creating another eBook or cute little game-ified learning app for the iPad. Instead, Dua and Tang wanted to bring together the latest educational research, learning techniques and teaching practices to create a better learning experience for both kids and parents. And one, importantly, that is aligned with the new standards of the Common Core, so that parents have assurance that their kids will start school (or kindergarten) ahead of the curve. To do so, the app blends a whole mess of custom learning content and stories taken from fairy tales, fables, and various mythologies with some killer, custom illustrations and art to make the content more engaging for young eyeballs. Alongside these stories, Learn with Homer includes a phonics program that aims to teach kids how words not only look, but how they sound and how they’re strung together. The motivation, Dua tells us, is to create a “comprehensive literacy program” for the iPad, where kids are not just memorizing words by sight as their parents read to them at bedtime, for example, but actually learning the sounds of the words as they go. The iPad then offers “field trips” that aim to bring the platform’s lessons into the real world by showing pictures of a fun range of animal characters and allowing kids to hear their own voices and words imitate those characters. Parents can also make recordings of their kids during the process, measuring their progress as they move through Learn With Homer’s 30 (free to download) lessons. Parental units can also addWhat's Asseta, A Marketplace For Used Manufacturing Equipment, Doing In Y Combinator? Um, Making Money
Aug 02, 10:15PM
Thank you, Y Combinator, for not just investing in a million photo-sharing apps. While you might not be personally excited about an online marketplace where you can buy and sell used manufacturing equipment - and, at launch, primarily semiconductor equipment - a new startup called Asseta demonstrates the potential in taking the now familiar concept of a transparent buyer and seller marketplace to a new vertical, which has yet to be flattened by the power of the web and the one-to-one connectivity it allows.AOL Lays Off Members Of AIM, Video Production, And HR Teams
Aug 02, 10:13PM
AOL made another round of cuts today. The news was first reported in Valleywag, which said the layoffs "won't break any records for AOL" (which owns TechCrunch) and that the cuts include some recent hires. A spokesperson for AOL (which owns TechCrunch) declined to comment, but a source with knowledge of the company confirmed that there were layoffs today, and that, as reported, they affected the AIM, video production, and human resources teams. (AOL reportedly laid off 40 members of AIM team last year.) Although my source did not say how many people were affected, they did note that there are other areas of AOL that are still hiring.File Transfer & Syncing Service Pixelpipe Shuts Down – Acquisition In The Works?
Aug 02, 10:06PM
San Francisco-based startup Pixelpipe, which previously offered services for uploading photos to a variety of online destinations, before moving to support a wider variety of file types under a cloud-to-cloud rebranding known as Pi.pe, shut down today. The company says it will now be "joining a much larger organization," but the details are not yet finalized.EAT Club Suspends Food Bus Operations In SF After Getting A Cease And Desist From The City
Aug 02, 9:52PM
Lunch goers in San Francisco startup neighborhoods like SOMA and the FiDi have lost one of their better food options today, as the EAT Club food bus has suspended operations after receiving a cease and desist from the city. The shutdown of its San Francisco service follows a disagreement over how to classify the EAT Club vehicle under city food codes.Ask A VC: Greylock's Josh Elman On SoLoMo, Growth Hacking And More
Aug 02, 9:35PM
On this week's episode of Ask A VC, we hosted Greylock's newest partner, Josh Elman, in the studio to answer reader questions on his views on local marketplaces and more.YouTube Expands Live Streaming To Channels With Just 100 Subscribers, Opens Custom Thumbnails & Merchandise Links To All
Aug 02, 9:12PM
Google today announced a number of updates to YouTube that will allow more video producers to use YouTube for live streaming. All channels in good standing with at least 100 subscribers will be able to live stream from their accounts within the next few weeks.Travel Startup WeHostels Goes Big On Mobile With An App For Booking Hostels On The iPad
Aug 02, 8:50PM
Over the past year WeHostels has bet on mobile in a big way by releasing apps for the iPhone and Android devices. Today, it released a new version of the app just for the iPad, taking advantage of the device's larger screen to give users more information about the places they're looking to stay at.The FBI May Be Working To Install Surveillance Taps On Major US Telecom Carriers
Aug 02, 8:46PM
According to a report in CNET today, the FBI wants to follow the NSA into broad surveillance of Internet data by forcing large telecommunications carriers to put in place what is described in the story as “eavesdropping technology.” Once installed, the technology would grant the FBI sweeping new powers to collect metadata on the Internet activities of American citizens. At work here are so-called ‘pen register,’ and ‘trap and trace’ orders, under the legal authority of which metadata can be collected in real-time. And in large amounts. Getting one of the orders, according to CNET, is exceptionally easy. Trap and trace authority allows for the collection of metadata – but not content – of incoming communication, according to the U.S. Code of Laws. Pen register allows for the collection of phone numbers called from a particular line. If CNET is correct, and the authority given by the pen and track orders can be used to collect Internet metadata, we are seeing law intended for telephonic information bent to vacuum up different digital information. This is misuse of law. Thus the two points fit together: The FBI forces the telecommunications companies to install the technology that it wants to use to track metadata, and then uses the pen register or trap and trace authority to collect as it pleases. The metadata scope of what the FBI could collect under that connection of installed tech and legal authority could, in CNET’s view, include “IP addresses, e-mail addresses, identities of Facebook correspondents, Web sites visited, and possibly Internet search terms as well.” CNET claims that carriers are fighting the installation of the FBI’s technology. This is to be encouraged. However, it is worth noting that there is strong precedent for their cooperation, perhaps the prime example of which is the infamous NSA room at the AT&T building in San Francisco. From that location, the NSA is widely believed to have full access to the fiber optic cables through which Internet traffic flows. The report that the FBI is working to expand what I would call real-time collection of metadata from telecommunications companies is troubling in that it underscores how intent the various arms of the United States government are in their pursuance of more and more information concerning the private lives of its citizens. At the same time, the revelation, if borne out, is not a surprise. In this case, however, we lack aA Tag-Team Look At The New Nexus 7
Aug 02, 8:27PM
Google recently updated its Nexus 7 tablet, with a new design and brand new specs including a more powerful processor and much better screen. The device also has the distinction of being among the first in line for new Android updates, so it's an early-adopter's delight. But despite all the new, the Nexus 7 doesn't really dramatically change the tablet space; it slots in more or less where the original version did, as a tablet that's good for the price but unlikely to provoke any passionGillmor Gang Live 08.02.13 (TCTV)
Aug 02, 8:08PM
Gillmor Gang - Bret Taylor, Robert Scoble, Keith Teare, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor. Live recording session today has concluded. Find us on facebook at Facebook.com/gillmorgangSorry, Windows Phone Fans: Instagram Hasn't Anointed A Third-Party App
Aug 02, 7:07PM
Turns out Instagram isn't kingmaking among the third-party developer community on Windows Phone. Today the Windows Phone community is buzzing with the news of a meeting between developer Rudy Huyn and Instagram that has led some to believe his forthcoming application for Microsoft's smartphone platform will carry some sort of blessing from the photo sharing social network.This Week On The TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast: Nexus 7, Moto X, And 3D Printing Gives You Cancer
Aug 02, 7:00PM
Here comes the Moto X, the fanciest phone out of Motorola in a long time and here already came the Nexus 7, a device that may beat out the iPad Mini. We talk about both of them. Then we move on to how 3D printing is killing us all and how that's pretty terrible.Google Launches City Experts Program To Encourage Higher Quality Google+ Local Reviews
Aug 02, 6:45PM
Google has quietly launched a new program called Google City Experts to encourage more high-quality local business ratings and reviews on Google+. The program is currently limited to select cities in the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Japan, and will reward users who have left at least 50 reviews to date, and who produce at least five new reviews each month.Google Will Soon Let You Locate, Ring and Remote Wipe Your Android Phone From Its Upcoming Web-Based Device Manager
Aug 02, 5:48PM
Apple users have long been able to use iOS's built-in device locator and remote wiping features, but Android users had to resort to third-party applications. That's changing soon. Google today announced that it'll launch a new Android Device Manager later this month that will allow you to locate and ring your misplaced (or stolen) device and perform a remote wipe so your data doesn't end up in the wrong hands.Cloud Cannon Turns Any Static Website Into An Editable Dropbox-Based CMS
Aug 02, 5:26PM
Cloud Cannon is a CMS designed specifically for designers who know how to work with HTML, JavaScript, CSS and any static content. Instead of having to turn your beautiful designs into a dynamic CMS, you just have to put your files into a Dropbox folder — Cloud Cannon will take care of the rest in seconds. Clients can then edit paragraphs in the browser, insert images and more, as if it were an editable CMS. There isn’t much else to say about this beautiful use case of the Dropbox API, because it’s as simple as that. Many have already hosted static content on their Dropbox accounts, but George Phillips and Mike Neumegen take it a step further by allowing administrators to edit the site directly in the browser, similarly to what you would do on a Squarespace website. And if the WYSIWYG editor doesn’t suit your needs, you can always edit the source files in the web-based text editor (or in your Dropbox, of course). You can manage client accounts to restrict the editing parts if you are working with a client. Only the content area will be editable as you need to add a class=”editable” div to any part of your HTML. If you need to host a blog, you can use static blog engine Jekyll. Cloud Cannon works with custom domain names or free .cloudvent.net subdomains. The service isn’t free — subscriptions range from $5 a month for a site to $49 a month for 20 sites. The startup doesn’t actually use Dropbox’s server infrastructure because there are some bandwidth restrictions for public folders. Cloud Cannon uses the Dropbox API to sync everything to its own servers, much like Marco Arment’s blogging engine. Dropbox only acts as an interface between the user and the hosting server. Yet, because it only supports static content, the startup doesn’t actually need big servers if they are configured properly with Varnish-style accelerators. One of Cloud Cannon’s main advantages is that users don’t need to turn into system admins and manage their own hosting solution. But even if you need a little more flexibility, this product is a very cool, well-designed hack that is worth checking out.If at any time you'd like to stop receiving these messages, just send an email to feeds_feedburner_com_techcrunch+unsubscribe-hmdtechnology=gmail.com@mail.feed2email.net.
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