Tech News 2Night 48 (Transcript)

[Top TN2 Animation ] Tonight, Hack- a new programing language born from Facebook, Google encrypts every single Gmail, and free-range robots for the Space Station... Tech News 2Night is Next! [TWiT Open] [Main TN2 Open- wait for cue] This is Tech News 2Night Episode 48, for Thursday March 20, 2014 This episode of Tech News 2Night is brought to you by lynda.com. Learn what you want, when you want, with access to over 2,000 high-quality online courses--all for one low monthly price. To try it free for 7 days, visit lynda.com/tn2. That’s L-Y-N-D-A dot com slash T-N-2. I'm Sarah Lane, Let's get right to the Tech Feed! Facebook engineers have created a new language called Hack that lets programmers build complex websites and other software quickly, while making sure their software code is organized and free of flaws. It already drives most of the company’s site that serves more than 1.2 billion people globally. The company publicly revealed this new language this morning, and at the same time, they “open sourced” it, to share the technology with the world and encourage others to use and improve it. Facebook was able to gradually replace its existing PHP code with Hack which the company says is more precise code, that provides more of a safety net for developers. Hack can also run without compiling. “You edit a file and you reload a webpage and you immediately get the feedback of: Here’s what the page looks like after I made that change. There is no delay,” engineer Bryan O’Sullivan says. “You get both safety and speed.” / Gmail just got a little more secure in light of recent government spying revelations. Google has announced Gmail will now use a secure HTTPS connection whenever you check or send email, no matter where you're accessing Gmail from, or what device you're on. Google made HTTPS encryption the default for its users back in 2010 but now, every single email message Gmail users send or receive will now be encrypted as it moves internally between the company's data centers. Google says this change became "a top priority after last summer’s revelations" from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. / Speaking of Google, the company's online spreadsheet app Sheets has rolled out to everyone that uses the Chrome browser after being in opt-in mode since December. Sheets support offline editing, which will be a relief to anyone who felt debilitated by Google Drive's outage earlier this week. Changes that are made offline Google Will sync your edits once you get a connection again. / An indictment filed in federal court alleges that Microsoft authorized a search of an unnamed blogger's Hotmail account when the company believed that the blogger was receiving leaks from former Microsoft staffer Alex Kibkalo, who's accused of using various Microsoft accounts to send proprietary code and software to the blogger relating to an upcoming release of Windows 8. The events date back to September 2012. At which time, an unnamed "source" contacted Microsoft to say they had received some information from a blogger known for leaking Microsoft software releases ahead of the official launch dates. / Twitter has launched a new tool on its Discover site to easily pull up anyone's first Tweet. Just enter any @username on the page to get started. Twitter's Discover page helps users learn more about the way Twitter works and how to connect with people, find out what's happening, and follow the news. Previously, users had to use 3rd party services to find their very first tweet. / Coming up.. one band is making money from Spotify with an album that sounds like no other.... And up next See-na Brewster is here from Gigaom to talk about the robots NASA is developing that use Google's Project Tango smartphones. [AD] This episode of Tech News 2Night is brought to you by lynda.com. With lynda.com’s easy-to-follow video tutorials, you can learn at your own pace—on your own terms—from industry experts. With a lynda.com subscription, members get unlimited access to thousands of online video courses covering a wide range of technical skills, creative techniques, and business strategies. Want to improve your photography, master new software, boost your web design skills, or learn programming? 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[Segment #2] Signe (See-na) Brewster Gigaom Science in Tech Reporter You wrote the story: "Google’s Project Tango could finally allow robots to roam free on the International Space Station" NASA Spheres is a prototype robot NASA built using Google's Project Tango smartphone to "see" a room in 3D. It also displays a heat map view of its world. The idea is to have this roam around the Space Station? What other uses do they envision? Also today you wrote "HP: We have solved 3D printing’s biggest problems. Just wait until June"" What can you tell us about HP's future 3D printer?" [Kicker!] Finally, rock band Vulfpeck wants to make enough money from Spotify to not only cover the costs of an upcoming tour, but to not have to charge admission to any of the shows. The band has released an album of complete silence on Spotify and is encouraging fans to listen to it on loop while they sleep. The album, called Sleepify, is 10-tracks and 316-seconds.Since Spotify pays Vulfpeck a half a cent per stream, Vulfpeck calculates that users can help the band earn $4 by streaming “Sleepify” on repeat while sleeping for seven hours. [good bye] That's it for this edition of Tech News 2Night. Subscribe to this show at Twit.tv/tn2, and write us at tn2@twit.tv Our next newscast is tomorrow at 10am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern. I'm Sarah Lane, thanks for watching.