RRR FM

On this week's Byte:

• News:
  • The Federal Budget has been released - what does it mean for IT? And what are the implications for Community Radio?
  • Samsung have announced that they have developed 5G mobile technology - before 5G has even been standardised - with speeds "hundreds of times faster than 4G"
  • How much would you pay for coffee with Apple CEO Tim Cook? 86 people bid for a 30-60 minute coffee date, with the prize going for $610,000
• Interviews:
  • Lauren Watson and Scott Brewer join the team to discuss the One More Thing Conference, happening May 24 at ACMI
  • Ben Tollady and Andrew Gunstone talking about Melbourne Geek Night, 6:30pm next Monday May 20 at Loop Bar, 23 Meyers Place.
• Dan's Games Wrap-up
  • PAX Australia have announced the Australian games that will be on display at this year's Indie Showcase at the Melbourne Showgrounds, July 19-21.
  • The award-winningly-catchy Dumb Ways to Die public transport campaign has now been released as an iOS game.
• ALSO: Congratulations to Dan Golding on his Best Gaming Journalist win at this year's Lizzie Awards.

Presented by Vanessa Toholka, Byron Scullin, and Dan Golding.

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This week on Byte:

Interviews & Guests:

• Ben Grubb, Deputy Technology Editor at The Age.

  Following the breach of building system security at the Sydney office of Google hundreds of Australian building admin systems found to be accessible online.

• Lachlan Simpson discusses DRM in HTML

General Tech News:

1. Syria loses the Internet at 5am today our time. Government intervention most likely.

2. The implications of Adobe Creative Suite going subscription-only

3. Baidu $370M purchase of PPS makes it a serious competitor to video platform Youku-Tudou
4. BitTorrent launches new media format called Bundle, looks to make content stores obsolete   

On this week's Byte:

• News
  • The World Wide Web turned 20 this week, and to celebrate, CERN have relaunched it at its original domain (incidentally, Byte turns 20 later in the year too... Have you got either of us a present yet?).
  • Google have released Google Now for iOS. Is it better than Siri?
  • Australian listed companies have been warned against using social media to distribute or gather market information after a series of hoaxes played havoc with US markets.
  • Stores in Germany have started accepting Bitcoins as well as cash and credit cards. Will it be long before Australian traders follow suit?
  • How long do you spend automating your tasks? Is it worth it? xkcd may have the answer...
• Interview:
  • Chris Ward joins the team to discuss the 2013 Web Directions Code Conference.
• Events:
  • Python Meetup, 6pm Monday May 6 at Inspire9, 1/41 Stewart St Richmond.
  • Melbourne Uni Mathematics and Statistics Society's 2013 Puzzle Hunt begins Monday May 13.
  • Laneway Learning are holding an Arduino for Absolute Beginners workshop, 6:14pm Tuesday May 14 at The Little Mule, 19 Somerset Pl Melbourne.
  • This Friday May 5 is the International Day of Action Against DRM, organised by Defective by Design.

Presented by Vanessa Toholka, Ben Finney, and Warren Davies.

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On this week's Byte:

Interview with Simon Jackson of Esri Australia on his Twitter map of Melbourne, which showcases different languages and profanity. (Link: Simon’s blog postabout the project.)

News: 

 - The Bundestag (German Parliament) has adopted a motion against granting software patents.

- The US House of Representatives passes CISPA despite mostly opposing it last year.

- Google Glass about a year awayfor consumers.

-‘Digilantes’ crowd-source justice in the wake of the Boston bombings last week. While law enforcement agencies look for answers do sites like Reddit, 4chan and Liveleak help or hinder the process?

Events:

1.       The Secret World of Codes and Cryptography Part of theLaneway Learning program, Monday 29 April, Ferdydurke, 8-9:15pm.

2.       Registrations open for Australian Centre for Broadband Innovation hack days in Melbourne and Sydney. Workshop ideas with peers and be mentored by key professionals in the industry including CSIRO, Intel, NBN Co and NICTA. Sydney 11 May, Melbourne Saturday 18 May, 9-5

3.       Web Directions Code, 2-3 May

On this week's Byte:

• News
  • The Australian Centre for Broadband Innovation has launched its Broadband4Apps competition - $50,000 for the best prototypes or woking applications for delivering services to broadband-connected homes.
  • 2 Gbps? It exists! Seriously. You just need to live in Tokyo and its sturrounding Prefectures. Not a huge ask, right?
  • Shadow Minister for Communications and Broadband Malcolm Turnbull has admitted that the Coalition's NBN plan may end up costing as much as Labor'. And may eventually include Fibre to the Home. But it's different. It really is.
  • Recent tests of the upcoming Ouya console have suggested that it will be less powerful than Android phones.
  • More problems for EA, who will be shutting down some of their most popular social games, including The Sims Social, Peto Society, and SimCity Social. People ain't happy.
  • And speaking of SimCity, you can now get new buildings in the game by buying toothpaste. Seriously. Yeah, we know...
  • Have you been surprisingly stung by "free-to-play" games? The UK Office of Fair trading is opening an investigation into children making purchases on f2p games and apps.
• Interviews:
  • Alex Gibson joins the team to discuss his project, Artbox - a video art device that runs on Raspberry Pi. Like it? Donate to Artbox at Pozible.
  • Lachlan Simpson on the ins and outs of working in IT for a not-for profit, and his experiences in Kiribati.
• DON'T FORGET APRIL AMNESTY - Know a freeloading listener? Nudge 'em to subscribe.

Presented by Vanessa Toholka, Paul Callaghan, and Dan Golding..

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On this week's Byte:

• News:
  • Facebook have released "Facebook Home", an OS which turns your phone into an entire Facebook interface. Never check Facebook again - it checks you.
  • Reading the fine print has revealed that the only way to delete an AppleID account may be to provide Apple with a death certificate.
  • GNOME - the most popular GNU+Linux desktop - have released version 3.8, including a new interface and a whole bunch of new features.
• Interviews:
  • Dr Bjorn Nansen of the University of Melbourne discussing the Federal Coalition's alternative NBN plan.
  • Joe and Sam Russell of Dreamwalk Interactive join the team to discuss their new app, Jam for iPhone.
• Upcoming Events:
  • Drupal Melbourne are holding a Drupal mentoring group at the State Library of Victoria, Saturday April 20.
  • Cake Industries are launching their "Future Relic" exhibition this Friday April 12 at Dark Horse Experiment, 110 Franklin Street, Melbourne. The exhibition runs until Saturday, May 4.
  • Angelcube have put out their final call for applications to their 2013 Startup Incubator - Applications close next Tuesday, April 16 - get started!
• PLUS - this is Georgia's last Byte for a while, so the team have put together a touching tribute...

Presented by Georgia Webster, Warren Davies, and Ben Finney.

• http://profiles.google.com/byteintoit
• http://twitter.com/byteintoit
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On this week's Byte:

• News:
  • In these uncertain economic times, more and more people are considering investing in Bitcoin.
  • Facebook are preparing to make an announcement, with the term "Facebook Home" being thrown around, and speculation that it will be a Facebook phone. What would a Facebook phone entail?
  • There has been an interesting court ruling in the US this week on the reselling of digital media and content.
• Interview:
  • Steph O'Hara of Synthmate discussing music-making iOS apps, and his new project Bip.
• The team discuss Netiquettein 2013, and what's now acceptable online. Have a think about these questions:
  • Is it always required to use salutations and goodbyes in emails?
  • Is it OK to use emoticons in emails?
  • Do you flame in forums?
  • What about trolling? Is that still acceptable in a forum?
  • Is it acceptable to bring personal disputes to a forum?
• Don't forget April Amnesty - if you've been thinking about subscribing to RRR, do it now!

Presented by Kent Humphries, Warren Davies, and Byron Scullin.

• http://profiles.google.com/byteintoit
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On this week's Byte:

Interviews:

• Luke Miller, creator of My Ex-Boyfriend The Space Tyrant, a full length gay themed point-and-click adventure with a superb blend of comedy, drama, romance and mystery.

News

·       The internet turns red and pink in support ofmarriage equality

·       Google Glass has issued 8000 units to testers, but still charge a hefty amount for the privillege.

·       The “Stop the Cyborgs” campaignagainst Google Glass kicks off

·       Apple is continuing to remove ‘controversial’ games from the App store, stating that games are not the place for political speech.

·       #Donglegate has taken over the internet this week, with further discussion about sexism in the tech industry.

·       Are Google Alerts going the way of Reader?

·       Bulbs from the incredibly successful LIFX kickstarter campaignhave started taking orders for batch 2

Events

·       Google Developer Group meetup, 28 March - talking Chrome for developers at York Butter Factory

·       Web Directions April 4, 6pm rooftop Geddes Lane “What do you know?” learning and networking for people who work on the web.

·       WordCamp, 27/28 April - a conference for WordPress enthusiasts, designers, developers, or anyone who is using WordPress for business or pleasure.

·       We Are All Carbon - a festival of contemporary design, style and culture - Sat 13 - Sun 14 April, RMIT Storey Hall

·       DON'T FORGET: Digital Community Radio is under threat! Commit to Community Radio here, and spread the word!

Presented by Georgia Webster, Vanessa Toholka and Dan Golding.

·       http://profiles.google.com/byteintoit

·       http://twitter.com/byteintoit

·       http://friendfeed.com/byteintoit

On this week's Byte:

• News:
  • The French Government is attempting to force Skype to register as a telecommunciations company.
  • US student Jeffrey Knockel has deconstucted Skype's code to show how the Chinese government flags certain words for the use of censorship and surveillance.
  • Reporters Without Borders have released a special report on Internet surveillance, showing how governments are increasingly using online surveillance against journalists, dissidents and other perceived "enemies'.
  • Crown Casino's security system has been hacked by a team who hooked into the live CCTV feed and "won" $32 million in eight hands of cards.
• Dan Golding joins the team to talk games:
  • The Federal Government has released its National Cultural Policy, the first since the Hawke-Keating era, and so the first to deal with games as a cultural artefact.
  • Ridiculous Fishing for iOS - it's fishing, and it's ridiculous.
  • Backflip Madness (again, exactly what it sounds like).
  • Siobhan Reddy of Media Molecule has been named Australian Woman of the Year in the UK for 2013 - prompting more discussion on the role of women in games development.
  • John Riccitello has resigned as CEO of EA on the back of a difficult time for the company, including the poor reaction to the launch of SimCity.
  • Real Racing 3 has been a hit, despite criticisms of the 'Fremium" model.
  • The Last of Us - a new postapocalyptic game from the makers of Uncharted - out in June for Playstation.
• Vale Google Reader - it will be disestablished on July 1 this year, but never fear - they will be introducing a GIF search tool - that makes up for it, right?
• A new handheld console from Game Consoles Worldwide, GCW-Zero - runs on Linux, and will be open-specified, and funded by Kickstarter.
• AND DON'T FORGET - Digital Community radio is under threat! Commit to Community Radio here.

Presented by Mike Bantick, Paul Callaghan and Ben Finney.

• http://profiles.google.com/byteintoit
• http://twitter.com/byteintoit
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On this week's Byte:

• A very special episode of Byte - Community Digital Radio is under threat! The community broadcasting sector needs the Federal Government to commit $1.4 million to the shortall in digital broadcasting funds. Commit to Community Radio here.
• Interviews with
  • David Sice - Technical Consultant for the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia - discusses the technical aspects of digital radio.
  • Karen Leng of Kinky Afro joind the team to talk about the importance of the COmmit to Community Radio campaign.
  • Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Septher Conroy, whose radio voice sounds supiciously like John Clarke...

Presented by Phil Wales, Georgia Webster, and Vanessa Toholka.

• http://profiles.google.com/byteintoit
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