PTJ 264: Now Departing

February 25, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Going . . . going . . . gone. Twitter finally swooped into action and chopped off thousands of bot accounts and other automatons that were violating its rules. SpaceX fired off another rocket and the repeal of the Net Neutrality rules landed on the Federal Register —which means an open Internet could be gone by April 23. El Kaiser and J.D. hash out the news and also discuss using a Chromebook as a laptop, so hop aboard Episode 264!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Show

Twitter bot purge prompts backlash (BBC News)
Automation and the use of multiple accounts (Twitter blog)
Inside Twitter’s Bot Purge (The Daily Beast)
AT&T Drives Path to Nationwide Mobile 5G With Multi-Gigabit Speeds (AT&T Newsroom)
SpaceX PAZ mission (SpaceX)
Mr. Steven Will Catch SpaceX Gear (Live Science)
SpaceX misses catching Falcon 9 rocket fairing with a giant net on a big ship (TechCrunch)
Samsung Galaxy S9 smartphone images leaked by MWC app (BBC News)
Restoring Internet Freedom (Federal Register)
FCC publishes net neutrality repeal, but debate goes on (San Francisco Chronicle)
Apple Plans Upgrades to Popular AirPods Headphones (Bloomberg)
Apple rushes out fix to Telugu letter text bomb bug (BBC News)
Latest Intel Security News: Updated Firmware (Intel Newsroom)
More than a movie, ‘Black Panther’ is a movement (CNN)
Black Panther (Box Office Mojo)
Atlanta airport is now offering flights to Wakanda — sort of (CNN)

Chromebook Living

Using Microsoft Apps on a Chromebook (The New York Times)
Set up your printer (Google Chromebook Help)
Set up your printer with Google Cloud Print (Google Cloud Print)
Print with Google Cloud Print (Google Cloud Print)
Cloud-ready printers (Google)
HP Printers Compatible With Google Cloud Print (HP Support)
HP Printers: Printing From a Chromebook (HP Support)
Google Support videos (YouTube)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint, Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 263: Put a Ring on It

February 17, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Google delivers on its commitment to block intrusive ads in the Chrome browser, Microsoft plans to unleash a Beast Mode for Windows 10 power users and Apple. . . well, Apple’s just staining the furniture with the HomePod speaker. El Kaiser and J.D. also discuss other highlights from the week’s tech news and offer tips for rural Internet users who have little choice in broadband providers and have to watch every megabyte they use on metered cellular data plans. Punch up Episode 263 to hear it all!

Links to Stories on This Week’s Show

Under the hood: How Chrome’s ad filtering works (Chromium Blog)
Apple HomePod Review: It Only Sounds Great (Wirecutter)
HomePod Teardown (iFixit)
Facebook Funded Most of the Experts Who Vetted Messenger Kids (WIRED)
Windows 10 is adding an Ultimate Performance mode for pros (Engadget)
Expanding Intel’s Bug Bounty Program: New Side Channel Program, Increased Awards (Intel Newsroom)
Tinder plans women-talk-first option similar to Bumble (MarketWatch)
As the Streaming Wars Heat Up, Ryan Murphy Cashes In (The New York Times)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

Measuring and Managing Your Cellular Data Use (The New York Times)
Tips to Minimize Data Usage (AT&T)
AT&T Data Calculator
Sprint Data Calculator
T-Mobile Calculator
Verizon LTE Data Calculator
Spotify Internet Usage Tips
Choosing a VPN (That One Privacy Site)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 262: Waiting In the Sky

February 12, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

The Space Race is back on — and Elon Musk’s own cherry-red Tesla Roadster is the pace car of the 21st century, having been shot into orbit around the sun by its owner. This week, El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the SpaceX test flight of the Falcon Heavy rocket on February 6th, 2018; check out the video below if you missed the Roadster-flinging launch. Elsewhere in the show, El Kaiser shares his opinion about the idea of R-rated a Star Wars movie and J.D. offers tips on how to find online streaming videos with overdubbed audio descriptions for the blind and those with limited vision. For all this — plus a roundup of the week’s tech news — just blast off Episode 262!

Links to Stories on This Week’s Show

Falcon Heavy, in a Roar of Thunder, Carries SpaceX’s Ambition Into Orbit (The New York Times)
Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster and Starman Leave Earth Forever in This Final Photo (Space.com)
‘Consumer Reports’: Samsung, Roku Smart TVs may be vulnerable to hackers (USA Today)
YouTube’s Recommendation Algorithm Favors Conspiracy Videos (New York magazine)
Thirty-six Defendants Indicted for Alleged Roles in Transnational Criminal Organization Responsible for More than $530 Million in Losses from Cybercrimes (United States Department of Justice)
Instagram tests resharing of others’ posts to your Story (TechCrunch)
Snap shares surge after app redesign sparks user growth (Reuters)
Cortana for iOS comes to iPad with native design (Windows Central)
Apple says iPhone 8 and X have ‘hardware updates’ that address battery issues (The Verge)
Google developing a game streaming service codenamed ‘Yeti’ with console hardware (9to5Google)
Google Online Security Blog: Vulnerability Reward Program: 2017 Year in Review (Google Security blog)
John Perry Barlow, Internet Pioneer, 1947-2018 (Electronic Frontier Foundation)

Technology + Accessibility

Finding Videos With Audio Descriptions (The New York Times)
The Audio Description Project: Streaming Video (American Council for the Blind)
Microsoft accessibility
Make Your PC Easier to Use (Microsoft)
Accessibility at Apple
Use Accessibility features on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch (Apple)
Accessibility Features on the Mac (Apple)
Google Accessibility
Android Accessibility Help (Google)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint, Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 261: DISCOVERIES

February 3, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

On this week’s episode. El Kaiser shares his thoughts after a binge of Star Trek: Discovery and J.D. explores a new way to find things that interest you on Instagram. A roundup of the week’s tech news includes a discussion of Twitter’s fake-followers problem, Amazon looking for new ways to provide employee healthcare and Google’s attempts to root out — and boot out — bad apps from its online Android store. All this AND porgs on Episode 261 of PopTech Jam!

Links to Stories Mentioned On This Week’s Show

Twitter Followers Vanish Amid Inquiries Into Fake Accounts (The New York Times)
The Follower Factory (The New York Times)
Twitter Doubles The Amount Of People It Says Interacted With Kremlin-Linked Trolls (Buzzfeed)
Amazon, Berkshire and JPMorgan Chase to partner on health care (CNBC)
Windows Defender to start removing “optimizer” scareware (Ars Technica)
California Senate defies FCC, approves net neutrality law (Ars Technica)
Samsung enters crypto-currency chips business (BBC News)
U.S. Probes Apple Over Updates That Slow Older iPhones (Bloomberg)
Podcast Listeners Really Are the Holy Grail Advertisers Hoped They’d Be (Wired)
Get help with cheaper flights and potential flight delays this winter (Google blog)
How we fought bad apps and malicious developers in 2017 (Android Developers blog)
Google backs ‘universal stylus’ campaign (BBC News)
A reintroduction to Google’s featured snippets (Google Keyword blog)
Facebook Really Wants You to Come Back (Bloomberg)
Facebook Aims to Soothe Wall Street Over News Feed Changes (The New York Times)
Nintendo Switch overtakes the Wii U (BBC)
The Official Star Wars app (StarWars.com)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

Following Along on Instagram (The New York Times)

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!