Wise Guys on WHO Radio - May 30, 2015
Please note: These show notes may be in various stages of completion -- ranging from brainstormed notes through to well-polished monologues. Please excuse anything that may seem rough around the edges, as it may only be a first draft of a thought and not be fully representative of what was said on the air.
In the news this week
Google's bringing out "Now on Tap" as an attempt to thwart Siri and Cortana as the tool to make your smartphone seem sentient. Bloomberg calls it a "bombshell". CNet wonders if it'll work. I think it's going to test just how far people are willing to trust Google, and I don't think that reservoir of trust is bottomless.
Security update
I give up. I withdraw my long-standing objection to using cloud-based backup services. I still don't like the huge security risk -- they're usually protected by nothing more than a password -- but at this stage, with the proliferation of devices (including smartphones and tablets beyond just conventional laptops and desktops), I don't know that ordinary users will ever be diligent enough about running backups on DVDs, flash memory, or portable hard drives on a regular-enough and frequent-enough basis. I still want to see cloud-based services up their security game.
Dispatches from the flying-car future
A road for autonomous cars in the Iowa City area? Cool, if they can find a place to put it.
Brian's Big Picture
Very little tells you more about the state of the newspaper business than the report that the San Diego Union-Tribune had dramatic job cuts right after new ownership came in. Most of the cuts were at the printing plant.
Politics of technology
@barackobama isn't really Barack Obama, but @potus is...but only until he leaves office. Then what? Will someone give him the keys to @barackobama44 or something?
Chuck Grassley's "assume deer dead" may be one of the best politican tweets of all time.
Listen again on-demand
- Podcast of this episode (forthcoming)