(Hopefully) Helpful Hint, Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 252: Naughty Bunnies

Audio October 29, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

It’s nature gone wild: The Bad Rabbit ransomware is having a mad hop through corporate networks around the world and rubber fish are lip-syncing Amazon’s Alexa. Meanwhile, Google wants to secure your account with actual keys and Amazon wants to pop the lock on your front door for package delivery. Spin up Episode 252 to get the details from El Kaiser and J.D., plus some tips for jumping smartphone platforms if you’ve decided to leave Apple for Google — or vice versa.

And don’t forget: Stranger Things 2 is now streaming on Netflix!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Episode

- Bad Rabbit: Ten things you need to know about the latest ransomware outbreak (ZDNet)
- Kaspersky May Have Found How Russian Hackers Stole NSA Data (SecurityWeek.Com)
- Google’s Key to Strong Password Protection Runs Into Limits (The New York Times)
- Google’s strongest security, for those who need it most (Google blog)
- Amazon to sell smart locks so it can slip packages into your home (Reuters)
- Introducing Amazon Cloud Cam (Amazon)
- Blade Runner 2017: Quartz created a bot to hunt down political news bots on Twitter (Columbia Journalism Review)
- Nazi forums closed as Reddit purges ‘violent content’ (BBC News)
- Twitter nears first profitable quarter as it slashes expenses, shares jump (Reuters)
- Trump administration program to test expanded drone use (Reuters)
- Experiment with updates to Science Journal, now on iOS (Google blog)
- Roku Wants to Start Streaming to Third-Party Devices (EXCLUSIVE) (Variety)
- Apple’s Billion-Dollar Bet on Hollywood Is the Opposite of Edgy (Bloomberg)
- Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak: Not upgrading to iPhone X right away (CBNC)
- Microsoft has stopped making the Kinect, and that makes me sad (Ars Technica)
- Nintendo announces Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp for smartphones (The Verge)
- This Exists: Some Dude Connected An Amazon Echo to His Big Mouth Billy Bass (Mediaite)

Big Mouth Billy Bass will dance to music from an Amazon Echo (Business Insider)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

Switching Between Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android (The New York Times)
Switching is easier than ever (Google)
Move from Android to iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch (Apple)
https://selfsolve.apple.com/deregister-imessage (Apple)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 251: The One After the 250th Episode

October 22, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

El Kaiser and J.D. are back this week with the usual suitcase full of technology news to unpack, including Samsung’s announcement that its Bixby virtual assistant is open (source) for business. And while Blue Apron is folding up a bit of its workforce, and Google’s DeepMind A.I. software is folding proteins. Oh, and let’s not forget, the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update started to show up on PCs everywhere this week. Now, if only we can get to the sweater weather…slip on your flip-flops come on along for Episode 251!

Links to Stories Mentioned on This Week’s Show

Bixby 2.0: The Start of the Next Paradigm Shift in Devices (Samsung Global Newsroom)
Experience Samsung 360 Round, a High-Quality Camera for Creating and Livestreaming 3D Content for Virtual Reality (Samsung Mobile Press)
Facebook officially rolls out its discovery-focused ‘Explore Feed’ (TechCrunch)
AlphaGo Zero: Learning from scratch (DeepMind)
‘It’s able to create knowledge itself’: Google unveils AI that learns on its own (The Guardian)
Google Serves Fake News Ads in an Unlikely Place: Fact-Checking Sites (The New York Times)
Twitter account claiming to belong to Tennessee GOP was run by Russian trolls (The Hill)
McCain signs on to Democrats’ Facebook ad disclosure bill (Politico)
Facebook and Google Helped Anti-Refugee Campaign in Swing States (Bloomberg)
Dodging Russian Spies, Customers Are Ripping Out Kaspersky (The Daily Beast)
HP Unveils World’s Most Powerful and First Detachable PC Workstation (HP Newsroom)
Blue Apron announces layoffs (Axios)
Lego’s official ‘Women of NASA’ set goes on sale November 1 (TechCrunch)

Windows 10 Fall Creators Update

What’s new in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (Microsoft)
How to get the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (Microsoft)
The definitive Windows 10 Fall Creators Update review (Windows Central)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint, Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 250: “El Kaiser, Did We Forget to Mention This Was Our 250th Episode?”

October 6, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Google took its turn spewing out the fall product lineup this week, with the Pixel 2 phone, Pixelbook laptop, Pixel Pen Stylus — and a whole bunch of Google Home offerings — announced. Meanwhile, Yahoo’s big hack was worse then the company previously announced (why, yes, it is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month). The former Equifax CEO got trolled hard at his Senate hearing and NASA invites space fans to send their names to Mars. Upward!

Links to Stories Mentioned on This Week’s Show

Here’s everything Google announced today (TechCrunch)
Facebook Fought Rules That Could Have Exposed Fake Russian Ads (Bloomberg)
Facebook tests explaining media sources (The Verge)
Monopoly Man photobombs Senate hearing on Equifax (CNN)
Yahoo’s 2013 Email Hack Actually Compromised Three Billion Accounts (Wired)
Sonos launches public beta for Alexa voice control (The Verge)
Sputnik-1 (NASA)
Sputnik beep (NASA audio archive)
NASA Audio and Ringtones (NASA)
Send Your Name to Mars! (NASA)
Mars Exploration Missions (NASA)
Everything We Know About Elon Musk’s Big Freakin’ Rocket (Nerdist)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 249: “Alexa, Activate My New York Comic Con Badge!”

October 2, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

It’s not just the abundance of pumpkin spice revving up the Big Apple air the first week of October — it’s the buzzy excitement of New York Comic Con returning once again to the Jacob K. Javits Center on the west side of Manhattan for four days of high-octane pop-culture fun. J.D. gets an insider’s view of the expo from Rich Bernatovech and Jamie Fay, two local comics creators who’ve been attending the event for years. This week’s episode also features a ramble through the recent tech headlines — including Amazon’s avalanche of Alexa gear — and a certain El Kaiser who’s more than a little leery of Apple’s new Face ID technology. Bang! Pow! Play!

Links to Stories on This Week’s Show

Twitter, With Accounts Linked to Russia, to Face Congress Over Role in Election (The New York Times)
Tweeters get cheeky after Twitter ups character limit (BBC News)
Facebook to Turn Over Russian-Linked Ads to Congress (The New York Times)
President Trump is accusing Facebook of being ‘anti-Trump’ (Recode)
Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook
Update on German Elections (Facebook)
Trying to Stem Fallout From Breach, Equifax Replaces C.E.O. (The New York Times)
Equifax Will Offer Free Credit Locks for Life, New CEO Says (Bloomberg)
Introducing the Next Generation of Echo: the All-New Amazon Echo and Echo Plus (Business Wire)
Introducing the All-New Amazon Fire TV with 4K Ultra HD and High Dynamic Range (Amazon)
Amazon Introduces a New Member of the Echo Family: Echo Spot (Amazon)
Amazon’s Echo Plus features a built-in smart home hub for $149 (Techcrunch)
Amazon announces $20 Echo Buttons for playing trivia games (The Verge)
Amazon Unveils $35 Gadget for Hands-Free Landline Phone Calls (Bloomberg)
About Face ID advanced technology (Apple Support)

Interview With Rich Bernatovech and Jamie Fay

The independent audio magazine devoted to mashing up pop culture, technology and more. J.D. Biersdorfer and Pedro Rafael Rosado are your hosts. It's an Internet Radio revolution!