Wrecked By Tech

We're back to our old tricks in this episode — rather than one or two deep dives into a topic, this week it's a smattering of news from all over the place. That includes a Canadian startup connecting voice actors all over the world; a face filter technology that can map you to a painting or statue (bear with us — it's cool); the DJI Spark; the HTC U11; fidget spinners; the underlying tech behind Google Wifi.

Speed round:

Recommendations

Links:

• Canadian Start-up Announces Online Audio Marketplace | WhatsYourTech
• This face filter technology can turn you into a statue or an oil painting | The Verge
• Deep neural networks can now transfer the style of one photo onto another | The Verge
• Portuguese Cup final ball delivered by man on spider-like drone | YouTube
• HTC U11 review: Back in the running | Android Central
• HTC U11 Mobile review: The new DxOMark leader | DxOMark
• HTC U11 Review | Digital Trends
• Fidget Spinner | App Store
• Google enters the mesh Wifi market with made-in Canada software | WhatsYourTech
• The Marc Newson Hourglass | HODINKEE
• Canada will launch a new strategy to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles next year | Electrek
• Android co-founder Andy Rubin will likely debut his new Essential smartphone May 30th | The Verge
• In case you don't remember Astrojax | YouTube
• This is probably the worst website we've ever seen

In this week's show, we discuss all the exciting news from Google I/O, the Google development conference. Highlights include Google Assistant, Google Home, Google Photos, Google Daydream (and other VR headsets), and Android/Android O.

Speed round:

Recommendations

Links:

• Google Home is coming to Canada this summer | Mobilesyrup
• Leatherbound photo books | The Lab Works
• What's New on Daydream (Google I/O '17) | Google Developers YouTube
• Standalone Google VR headsets coming from HTC and Lenovo | The Verge
• Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus gain Google Daydream support this summer | The Verge
• Android O: Everything you need to know | Android Central
• New YouTube features: 360-degree video for TV and Super Chat API | Android Authority
• Did you find Google I/O 2017 to be boring? [Poll] | 9to5Google
• Ford replaces CEO Mark Fields with autonomous driving chief | The Verge
• Tango
• Virtual and Augmented Realities: Asking the right questions and traveling the path ahead | Medium
• macOS - Print Products - Apple (CA)

This week the guys talk about Microsoft Build and all the news and implications it brought, including: Timeline, a feature similar to Apple's Continuity; Fluent Design, the new visual identity; Story Remix, the sweet new answer to Movie Maker; HoloLens and a couple other "Mixed Reality" headsets; and Windows 10S.

Speed round:

Recommendations

Links:

• Everything Microsoft announced at Build 2017 | VentureBeat
• Microsoft’s Story Remix app is Windows Movie Maker on steroids | The Verge
• Replacing VR and AR with ‘mixed reality’ is good for Microsoft and bad for the rest of us | The Verge
• Acer will ship a $399 VR headset with full motion trackers this holiday season | The Verge
• Introducing Surface Laptop, powered by Windows 10 S | Windows Blog
• Microsoft's new cloud clipboard lets you paste from a Windows 10 PC to an iPhone | The Verge
• WannaCry ransomware attack | Wikipedia
• Ubuntu arrives in the Windows Store, Suse and Fedora are coming to the Windows Subsystem for Linux | VentureBeat
• Google Assistant may be coming to iOS quite soon | Android Central
• Watch Microsoft demo Emma Watch, a wearable that counters Parkinson's tremors | VentureBeat
• Google Home in Canada may just be around the corner | Cantech Letter
• Introducing Microsoft Surface Studio | YouTube
• Introducing Microsoft Surface Laptop | YouTube

In honour of BlackBerry's latest phone release, the KEYone, this week we dive deep into the history of BlackBerry: when and where it started; their phone range and what they meant to the world; the current state of the company (and what its phones are up to); and finally, Marc's review of the KEYone.

Speed round:

Recommendations

Links:

• BlackBerry rolling out May security patch, stops selling older devices including Priv | 9to5Google
• Ecobee smart thermostats/accessories | Ecobee
• Canadians unconcerned about technology’s impact on the economy: poll | The Globe and Mail
• Disposable Drones Could Deliver Supplies Under Enemy Fire | WIRED
• Uber to Build AI Team in Toronto with Addition of U of T Expert in Self-driving Vehicles | Techvibes
• The Invoke is Harman Kardon's Cortana-powered answer to Amazon's Echo | MobileSyrup
• Households hang up on landlines as cellphones dominate | Toronto Star

This week marks the start of a new format: we're going in-depth about two topics and leaving the gadget news to the speed round.

Fitbit's new watch leaked, and Marc hates it. Riley doesn't mind it. Dan is neutral. Are wearables even a good idea? What's the purpose of a smartwatch? Are mechanical watches coming back because of smartwatches?

Net neutrality is a big deal, especially right now. Last week FCC Chairman Ajit Pai publicly released their proposed plan for telecoms, and it's... well, it doesn't look so good. What does this mean? Does it affect Canada? Is there anything you can do about it?

Speed round:

Recommendations

Links:

• Leaked photos reveal that Fitbit’s upcoming smartwatch looks like a Fitbit | The Verge
• Google and Amazon killed their Apple Watch apps and it went unnoticed for weeks | The Verge
• Slain woman’s Fitbit continued logging steps after husband told police she died | Globalnews.ca
• Where we stand on Net Neutrality | Verizon | YouTube
• Why Canada’s Net neutrality stance places consumers in control | The Globe and Mail
• U.S. telecom adviser criticizes Canada’s approach to Internet regulations | The Globe and Mail
• What the CRTC's zero rating decision means for net neutrality in Canada | Mobilesyrup
• Canadian Internet traffic is travelling through the U.S. – making Canadians even more vulnerable to NSA surveillance | OpenMedia
• Canadians' Privacy Trumped by American Agenda | What's Your Tech
• Apple is in talks to launch its own Venmo | Recode
• Uber’s Travis Kalanick has canceled his Code Conference interview | Recode
• Google Wifi offers Canadians a sleek 3-piece mesh network for $439 | Mobilesyrup
• KGI: Apple likely to announce ‘home AI’ Siri Speaker at WWDC, positioned as high-end Amazon Echo competitor | 9to5Mac
• The Orange Is the New Black Netflix Hack Was a Terrible Idea | WIRED

Dan's away this week, so Marc and Riley are left to argue about: Lyrebird, a Montreal company that can synthesize a voice with just 1 minute of speech; the rise and prevalence of contactless payments in Canada; Invest Ottawa's ploy to attract immigrant tech workers to the city; Bose headphones snooping your audio data.

Speed round:

Recommendations

Links:

• Lyrebird claims it can recreate any voice using just one minute of sample audio | The Verge — Artificial intelligence is making human speech as malleable and replicable as pixels.
• Spending in Canada Up, Fueled by Rise in Contactless Payments | Techvibes — the volume of “tapped” dollars increased by 62% during the quarter
• Invest Ottawa launches new international campaign to attract tech workers | CBC News — "Ottawa is often mischaracterized as purely a government town," said Invest Ottawa CEO Michael Tremblay.
• Bose headphones spy on listeners: lawsuit | Reuters — The complaint filed on Tuesday by Kyle Zak in federal court in Chicago seeks an injunction to stop Bose's "wholesale disregard" for the privacy of customers
• Unroll.me’s CEO is ‘heartbroken’ that users are upset their data was sold to Uber | The Verge
• This building uses emoji cast in concrete as modern gargoyles | The Verge
• Spotify hiring to launch self-branded hardware, potentially a wearable | Android Central
• Amazon launches a new digital subscription marketplace | The Verge
• Britain goes a day without coal-fired power for first time since the 1880s | The Verge
• Holiday Inn customers urged to check credit card statements after widespread hack | Globalnews.ca
• The business of GIFs: then and now | Vox

On this week's episode: HP's horrendous customer service after a man in Montreal reported being hacked; Instagram stories are now beating Snapchat for number of daily active users; the now-infamous murder uploaded to Facebook — what it means for the platform, how they handled it, and what can be done; pretty much everyone is texting and driving, even though it's really bad for you.

Speed round:

Recommendations

Links:

• Montreal man gives HP failing grade after data breach | CBC News — It's not clear how many HP customers were affected, what data was leaked or how it happened.
• Instagram Stories is now more popular than the app it was designed to kill | The Verge — a healthy percentage of the app’s more than 600 million users are spending time every day checking out Instagram Stories
• Facebook Streams a Murder in Cleveland, and Must Now Face Itself | WIRED — The entire video is 57 seconds long. Less than a minute: That’s all it takes to broadcast a cold-blooded homicide to thousands of people around the world. And all it takes to raise questions about the limits and responsibilities of a platform that has pledged to reflect humanity in its purest form.
• Distracted Driving Study Finds Most Drivers Use Cell Phones Behind the Wheel | WIRED — a new study indicates that damn near everybody uses their phone while behind the wheel, damn near all the time.
• Ecobee4 rumoured to feature built-in microphone and Alexa integration, even in Canada | Mobilesyrup
• Facebook F8 2017: Everything Facebook Announced | WIRED
• Coachella man caught stealing over 100 phones thanks to Find My iPhone | The Verge
• Princeton’s Ad-Blocking Superweapon May Put an End to the Ad-Blocking Arms Race | Motherboard
• Steam has a massive new competitor | Polygon

On this week's show: follow-up about the spies on Parliament Hill (and the RCMP's response to it); a Canadian not-for-profit that wants government to be better at technology; Internet privacy in Canada and why your data is safe; a CBC op-ed suggesting technology progress may end up hindering us; YouTube TV and what it means for would-be cable cutters.

Speed round:

Recommendations

Links:

• RCMP reveals use of secretive cellphone surveillance technology for the first time | CBC News — The RCMP held the briefing in the wake of a CBC News investigation that found evidence that devices known as IMSI catchers may be in use near government buildings in Ottawa for the purpose of illegal spying.
• Government isn't a tech startup — but it's trying to learn to code like one | CBC News — The organization launched last week with the goal of connecting designers and software developers from the tech community with teams in government who are interested in modernizing their digital services.
• U.S. internet service providers get green light to sell user data — but what about Canada? | CBC News — You might be pleased to learn that Canada, which often follows the U.S. lead on technology issues, has taken a different approach. Here, internet service providers can only share your personal information with third parties with your express consent.
• A tech company that cares — now that would be innovative | CBC News Opinion — But at this point, we don't really need thinner phones, or more megapixels, or new bots to take our coffee orders. What we need from the tech industry now is accountability: to care about how their products affect the lives and livelihoods of the people who use them, for better and for worse.
• Hands-on: YouTube TV is familiar, stable, and already changing my viewing habits | 9to5Google — So far, YouTube TV is as reliable as the main video site.
• Walt Mossberg is retiring in June | Recode
• Microsoft's Minecraft Set to Launch its Own Currency | Bloomberg
• Google is rolling out a fact-check feature in its search and news results | Recode
• Tidal Owner Jay Z Pulls Music from Spotify | Techvibes
• The McDonald’s Snaplications campaign is recruiting teens through Snapchat | The Verge
• Twitter Lite

On this week's show: the Canadian government committed over $2.2 billion to clean energy technology investments; there are cell phone spying devices around Parliament Hill (update — as of this writing, we're pretty sure it was the RCMP); Infiniti launches first Internet of Things smart city lab in North America — based in Toronto; the Samsung S8 and S8+ and all their bells and whistles.

Speed round:

Recommendations

Links:

• Federal budget sets new standard for Canadian clean tech | The Globe and Mail
• Someone is spying on cellphones in the nation's capital | CBC News — During tests in December and January, the CryptoPhone set off alerts at locations around Parliament Hill, including the nearby Byward Market, the Rideau Centre shopping mall and CBC offices in downtown Ottawa.
• Infiniti Launches Accelerator for IoT, Smart City Startups in North America | Techvibes — After opening a lab in Hong Kong in 2015, this Canadian base marks Infiniti’s first lab in North America.
• Facial Recognition Feature on Galaxy S8 Bypassed Using Just a Photo | Mac Rumors — The YouTube video embedded below, recorded at the S8 launch event, shows the registered user of the device presenting a picture of himself to the phone's front-facing camera.
• Facebook clones GoFundMe with ‘personal fundraiser’ feature | The Verge
• Verizon is mashing Yahoo and AOL into a new company called Oath | The Verge
• Tesla is the most valuable US carmaker because of hope, not results | The Verge
• Android Overtakes Windows as World’s Most Popular Operating System | Techvibes

Upon Riley's return, we talk about: Canada's banks are building a new privacy/identity tool (and cooperating on something for the first time since 1984); IKEA is building its own smart light platform; Samsung will start selling refurbished Note 7s in certain countries, pending approval; Apple bought Workflow; Apple's latest software release.

Speed round:

Recommendations

Links:

• Canada’s first commercial blockchain service could become the ‘Interac’ for digital transactions | IT World Canada News — The service is designed to give Canadians better control over their private information when there’s need to prove their identity for a transaction.
• Ikea is getting into home automation with a new smart hub | The Verge — The new range of products is called Trådfri — which means “wireless” in Swedish — and is built around the ZigBee Light Link standard for connected lights (the same as Philips Hue).
• Samsung to sell refurbished Galaxy Note 7 smartphones | The Globe and Mail — A person familiar with the matter told Reuters in January that it was considering the possibility of selling refurbished versions of the device or reusing some parts.
• London attacker sent encrypted WhatsApp message and the government wants to read it | Globalnews.ca — Local media have reported that British-born Khalid Masood sent an encrypted message moments before killing four people last week
• Apple has acquired Workflow, a powerful automation tool for iPad and iPhone | TechCrunch
• Apple releases iOS 10.3 with Find My AirPods, Apple File System, CarPlay updates, more | 9to5Mac — The latest software update includes Find My AirPods support, CarPlay improvements, Apple’s new filesystem, and more.
• Apple rolling out macOS 10.12.4 software update with Night Shift for Mac | 9to5Mac
• tvOS 10.2 with new features and SDK improvements now available for Apple TV | 9to5Mac
• watchOS 3.2 with Theater Mode and SiriKit for Apple Watch is now available | 9to5Mac
• StarCraft: Remastered coming this summer | Polygon
• Using ‘satnav’ to find your way switches off parts of brain | The Globe and Mail
• Elon Musk launches Neuralink, a venture to merge the human brain with AI | The Verge
• Microsoft’s Cortana is now available on the Android lock screen | The Verge