Episode 2209 – Free to be 3D

Jason Hiner, editor-in-chief of Tech Republic, is on the show today. He and Tom chat a bit about Heartbleed, Windows XP and dig into whether 3D printing belongs in the home or the factory.



Or you can download the MP3 version here.

Headlines

 * As we discussed yesterday, the Heartbleed vulnerability affects around 18% of SSL 1.01 servers that implemented TLS-Heartbeat. SysAdmins have been scrambling to patch their systems and issue new security certificates. The simple advice is to wait for confirmation of a fix from vulnerable websites before logging in. If you don’t want to wait, GRC’s Steve Gibson recommends using ssllabs.com to check if a site’s server has had their SSL version upgraded to 1.01g and the security certificate was reissued AFTER the update. Matthew Green has an excellent discussion at cryptographicengineering.com of the code error itself, if you’re interested in how the bug happened in the first place.


 * Reuters reports that 70% of the market in China still uses Windows XP, which received it’s last security patch yesterday. Microsoft has partnered with Lenovo and Tencent to provide continuing support. Tencent will provide permanent XP support free of charge with two 24-hour hotlines. tm204 posted a Netcraft survey to our subreddit showing 6,000 websites still running on Windopws XP including 14 hosted by US governments. If that sounds bad, it’s nothing compared to the 500,000 or so websites hosted on Windows 2000 which stopped being supported in July 2010. There are even 50,000 sites running Windows NT4 which ended support December 31, 2004.


 * The Verge passed along Amazon’s claim to have tripled its streams over the past year, making its instant video site the third largest behind Netflix and YouTube, passing up Hulu, according to numbers from video-delivery firm Qwilt.


 * The Economic Times reports Facebook now has more than 100 million active users in India, the second country in which the social network has reached that milestone. The first was its home country of the US. 84 million of that 100 access the site from their mobile devices. Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico round out the top 5 countries for Facebook, in that order.

News From You

 * Google would like all you XP users out there to have a new PC. MikePKennedy posted the Android Central story aboutGoogle taking $100 off Chromebooks when purchased through the Chromebooks for Business program. If you’re really attached to Windows apps, Google is offering $200 off Chromebooks for Business with VMWare’s DaaS virtualization suite, and 25% off Citrix XenApp Platinum Edition.


 * tekkyn00b posted a different Android Central story. This one is about Comcast considering their own mobile phone service, using WiFi as the main delivery, with cellular data leased as a backup. Sound familiar? Google was rumored to be meeting with Verizon about the same sort of plan. The Information reported the story originally with sources saying Comcast would like to create a nationwide network, though implementation is still far off.


 * habichuelcondulce submitted the Reuters report that Intel will shut its assembly and test operation in Costa Rica, eliminating 1,500 jobs. Intel spokesman Chuck Malloy said Intel will move assembly and testing from its site in Heredia, Costa Rica to existing sites in China, Malaysia and Vietnam, over the next 6 months. Intel’s R&D efforts will continue in Costa Rica, employing some 1,000 people. Intel announced in January it would reduce its worldwide workforce by 107,000 this year.


 * Draconos passed along the Verge report about Sesame Street launching its own streaming video service. Sesame Go is browser-based but US-only and works on Mac, Windows and mobile devices. For $4 a month or $30 a year, you can watch hundreds of Sesame Street episodes as well as the animated series Pinky Dinky Doo.


 * tm204 posted the ScienceDaily report about a study published in Materials Today describing computer logic units built using slime molds. The work by Andrew Adamatzky of the University of West England, and Theresa Schubert of Bauhaus University, exploited the interconnected tubes of slime molds to process information. To make the tubes work the way they wanted to, they fed tubes oat flakes where they wanted to grow them and salted areas where they didn’t want tubes. Using dyes with magnetic nanoparticles and tiny fluorescent beads, allowed them to use the slime mold network as a biological “lab-on-a-chip” device. “The slime mold based gates are non-electronic, simple and inexpensive,” according tot he study.

3-D Printing’s Missing Link

 * http://www.techrepublic.com/article/the-missing-link-in-3d-printing-user-friendly-software/
 * https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/m3d/the-micro-the-first-truly-consumer-3d-printer

Pick of the Day

 * SSL Labs