Gadgetory

this episode of techno Buffalo is brought to you by carbonite what does a company called Carrier IQ know about you yeah you right there they're watching you when is the Samsung Galaxy Nexus Ice Cream Sandwich phone finally coming to the United States in the form of a verizon wireless version of the device and will the next version of Microsoft Kinect be able to read lips hopefully better than my bad cut glue movie impression round them up it's Tecna Buffalo's room around them hey what is going on everybody happy friday and happy december to you it's techno buffalos rumor roundup Ranma on revision3 my name is Noah Kravitz editor-at-large for TechnoBuffalo and this episode of the rumor roundup for the week ending today Friday December second 2011 this brought to you by our friends at Carbonite hey by the way shameless self-promotion check out this past tuesday's episode of tekzilla on revision3 there's a very very handsome and well-spoken special guest and after his segment i was on there talking about the 29er map with patrick norton at a great time patrick was awesome and you know watched the show for Patrick and Veronica and the rest of the segment's you already know about twenty dollar man anyway good fun check out tekzilla it's a great program now on to the roundup who is carrier IQ and why should you care because they might be watching you I always feel like somebody's watching that song anyway Carrie right Q you probably never heard of them before this week if at all and now they're all over the blogosphere they're a company that makes software that its stated function is to gather performance data other analytics data on smartphones and report back to carriers so the carriers can optimize the performance of their network their devices etc etc they made news this week because a developer named Trevor Eckhart discovered that his android phone was running this software without his knowledge and may actually have been capturing everything from the phone numbers of the people he was calling and texting to his keystrokes web browsing history and other highly personal stuff Eckhart posted a video to the interwebs it got picked up all over the place including by our own adriana lee you can check out her article on the story and since then everybody from the tech blogs to barney frank has gotten involved asking carrier IQ what exactly are you guys up to now the deal seems to be that the software has been installed on some but not all smartphones recent smartphones from hardware manufacturers including nokia HTC and other Android smartphone makers blackberry and Apple the hardware companies who've spoken have basically categorically denied that they've ever installed the software themselves that leaves the carrier's in question looks like carrier IQ you know you'd make sense from the name looks like that their software is installed by carriers after they get the devices from the OEMs but before they sell them to you and me and that guy down the street so where does this leave us we don't really know and that's the rumor part of all this carrier IQ hasn't said anything other than to send a cease-and-desist letter to Eckhart demanding that he pulled down his video and all his blog postings on the subject the eff came to Eckhart's aid and very quickly got the cease and sis later rescinded and again the media coverage is blown up since then but aside from that we haven't heard from Carrier IQ we don't know what they're really doing if anything we don't know how sinister this is or isn't so the rumor is that if you've got a modern smartphone your every move might be being tracked it's just a rumor from now but it's one worth paying attention to stay tuned TechnoBuffalo we will have the latest on the story as it unfolds speaking of smartphones the Galaxy Nexus is the flagship device for the new version of Google's Android operating system android 4.0 ice cream sandwich made by samsung the Nexus has already launched over in Europe but it's yet to be found in the United States why well could be a number of reasons including a bug related to the volume control that was found on the european version of the device after Lodge and Samsung is now working on fixing whatever the case the launch date for the phone in the US on verizon wireless has been a moving target first it was around Thanksgiving then it was december 8th now the latest is december 11th again this is just rumor land there was never actually a ship date or a pre-order date announced by the carrier's but the latest rumor of course comes from a screenshot that may or may not be legit supposedly taken from a Best Buy internal retail database management system this screenshot which isn't posted on the web of course that's what we're doing we're a web show it's about rooms on the web this screenshot shows the galaxy nexus for verizon in stores on december 11 there's a catch though and the catch is that it also lists some specifications including the physical dimensions of the phone that don't quite line up with the specs already published by Samsung so what gives is the verizon version going to be a little bit different or the specs just off in the database or just a total photoshop job that's just the latest and a whole bunch of made-up stuff by people who really just want the darn phone because it's supposed to be the greatest Android phone ever I don't know December 11th Best Buy that's the date we have now it's as good as anything else until verizon or somebody comes forward and says this is the actual date this is the actual price this is when you can actually get one and use it on our LTE network in the United States stay tuned fingers crossed it'll be sooner than later you know computer disasters eventually happen to everybody if you've got a computer and who doesn't these days disaster is going to strike it might be in the form of a virus infecting your system it might be in the form of theft or if you like me it might come in the form of mr. butterfingers dropping your laptop onto a concrete sidewalk yeah ouch not good but if you get carbonite online backup before disaster strikes there's no need to worry because you're irreplaceable files will be backed up safely and off-site and the best part is it's easy to get them back plus you get anytime anywhere access to your backed up files virtually any computer in the world or from an iPad or smartphone using carbonates free act with carbonite unlimited backup for your mac or pc is just fifty nine dollars a year that's less than five bucks a month and if you sign up now using the offer code techno you can get a free 15 day trial and two months free with purchase if you decide to buy first two months the free gratis anyway go over to carbonite.com for the complete details and remember use the offer code technote te chno to get two months free with and last but not least is the next version of Microsoft's Kinect going to be able to do everything from read your lips to sense your moods maybe according to a report published earlier this week tracked down by our own video game editor joey davidson microsoft is hard at work on connect to which might be a standalone unit like the current connect or it might be built in to the next version of their Xbox gaming hardware now all of the stuff this is said in the rumor mill said to be on tap for release next year and Microsoft is giving a keynote address at CES in Las Vegas in January which is like a month away we'll be there by the way like I don't know 85 of us you're going to go cover the show you need as many people as possible at CES will be there a bunch of the other rev3 folks would be there it's going to be a blast we're going to have video more video than you can keep up with a promise because in Vegas it's like you never sleep you just you know cover the tech show anyway next version of Connect is said to have a refined more precise optical and auditory tracking system that can do everything from read lips to sense changes in pitch to somehow put all that together to detect your moods I'm just seeing now I'm gonna be playing dance dance what's it called Dance Central and it's going to be like your mood is spastic your route is grumpy your mood is spastic your mood is grumpy you can't dance you can't dance you can't dance you know I know that already but it's more fun when a computer tells you anyway we don't know much yet about the system except that it's coming and you know it's going to be bigger and better than the current version because that's how it always happens so stay tuned for that whether you know whether you're a PlayStation guy or an xbox gal or Nintendo person doesn't matter it's interesting stuff to follow so Joey has got the latest news on all the goings on in the video game world including the latest connect rumors over on technobuffalo so be sure to check that out all right that's it for me from a windy windy windy Oakland California looking out the windows now and it's like gale-force Roger it's crazy anyway wherever you are I hope the winds aren't quite as fierce as they are out here and I hope you've enjoyed the show technobuffalo rumor on revision3 you don't forget we're on riff 33 times a week Monday Wednesday Friday John John and Noah asked the Buffalo whats the apps rumor roundup until next time thanks again to the folks at Carbonite for sponsoring the show thanks to our of three for having us on thanks to you for watching and you can get more on all these stories and more at technobuffalo calm and of course on our various Twitter accounts well you can find them you're good with the googles you know what to do all right till next time run them up whoa see you later this episode of technobuffalo is brought to you by electric avenue and then we'll take it higher what you know that song John it's good song Eddie grant like ravanar evaluate by the way same look I can't talk hey by the way shameless