PTJ 334: Grand Central Tracin’

April 29, 2020 J.D. Biersdorfer 2 Comments

Contact tracing! It’s all the rage around the world as countries try to track the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus though voluntary smartphone apps. In this week’s news segment, El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the various approaches these apps take before moving on to other headlines around the tech world. El Kaiser also shares his adventures with cloning a hard drive. All this and more on PTJ 334!

Links to News and Stuff Discussed on This Week’s Show

Avenue 5 (HBO)
Apple and Google release first seed of COVID-19 exposure notification API for contact tracing app developers (TechCrunch)
NHS rejects Apple-Google coronavirus app plan (BBC News)
Two Million Australians Download Coronavirus Contact-Tracing App (Bloomberg)
Germany flips to Apple-Google approach on smartphone contact tracing (Reuters)
Coronavirus: Why are there doubts over contact-tracing apps? (BBC News)
Europe’s Privacy Law Hasn’t Shown Its Teeth, Frustrating Advocates (The New York Times)
‘iPhone 12’ likely to ship in the same timeframe that the iPhone X did (Apple Insider)
Microsoft Teams Vulnerability Exposed Organizations to Attacks (SecurityWeek.Com)
Verizon, AT&T, Comcast won’t cancel service through June due to coronavirus (Reuters)
Twitter turns off its original SMS service in most countries (The Verge)
Google Pixel Buds 2 review roundup: What critics love and hate (Tom’s Guide)
An ESPN Commercial Hints at Advertising’s Deepfake Future (The New York Times)
Warning Signs And Symptoms Of Hard Drive Failure (Prosoft Engineering)
How to Make a Bootable Clone of Your Mac’s Hard Drive (How-To Geek)
SuperDuper!
Carbon Copy Cloner

Episode Links

PTJ 333: ‘MYST’ E-Memories

April 22, 2020 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

As much of the United States drifts into its second month of lockdown to help stop the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the joy of playing old predictable games in decidedly unpredictable times. This week’s episode also includes a roundup of the past week’s technology news and a sharing of feelings about the Titans show on DC Universe. Spin up PTJ 333 to hear it all!

Links to News Stories Discussed on This Week’s Show

Apple iPhone SE 2020 update (MacRumors)
Zoom’s Security Woes Were No Secret to Business Partners Like Dropbox (The New York Times)
Virtual Nightlife Grows Past DJ Livestreams to Paid Zoom Clubs (Bloomberg)
Walmart is selling its on-demand video service Vudu to Fandango (TechCrunch)
Facebook removes some events calling for protests of stay-at-home orders (NBC News)
Facebook to Introduce an App for Gaming (The New York Times)
Mark Zuckerberg: How data can aid the fight against covid-19 (The Washington Post)
Instagram founders launch COVID-19 spread tracker Rt.live (TechCrunch)
‘One World’ concert raises more than $127m for WHO emergency response fund (CNN)
San Diego Comic-Con Canceled Amid Coronavirus Pandemic (The Hollywood Reporter)
The Entire Weekend Box Office Report Is From a Single Drive-In in Florida (ScreenCrush)
Domestic 2020 Weekend 16 (BoxOfficeMojo.com)

Retro Games for Uncertain Times

The Comfort of Childhood Media During Lockdown (The New York Times)
Myst
How to Find the Video Games of Your Youth (The New York Times)
Some Alternatives for the Bored Gamer (The New York Times)
It’s a Perfect Time to Play Video Games. And You Shouldn’t Feel Bad About It. (The New York Times)
How to Run Old Games on Your Modern PC (PCMag.com)
Castle Wolfenstein (1984) in the Internet Archive
Return to Castle Wolfenstein on Steam
The Internet Archive Software Collection
Untitled Goose Game

Episode Links

PTJ 332: Anti-Virus Software

April 13, 2020 J.D. Biersdorfer 2 Comments

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues its spread, Apple and Google join forces to create a platform to track the disease — even though privacy advocates have concerns. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the program, along with the other tech headlines of the week. And, with network connectivity more important than ever, El Kaiser offers some tips on getting the most out of your home Wi-Fi. It’s all here waiting for you in PTJ 332!

Links to News Stories Discussed on This Episode

Coronavirus Contact Tracing: Apple and Google Team Up to Enable Virus Tracking (The New York Times)
How Apple and Google are tackling one of the toughest parts about tracking COVID-19 exposures (The Verge)
Apple and Google detail bold and ambitious plan to track COVID-19 at scale (Ars Technica)
Coronavirus: UK confirms plan for its own contact tracing app (BBC News)
Britain’s NHS working with Google, Apple on app to track coronavirus contact: Sunday Times (Reuters)
Contact Tracing in the Real World (Light Blue Touchpaper)
ACLU White Paper: The Limits of Location Tracking in an Epidemic (American Civil Liberties Union)
Apple Maps will soon display COVID-19 testing locations (9to5Mac)
PayPal, Intuit QuickBooks approved for coronavirus small-business loan (CNBC)
Warehouse workers are forcing Amazon to take COVID-19 seriously (The Verge)
Robots Welcome to Take Over, as Pandemic Accelerates Automation (The New York Times)
Apple Plans IPad-Like Design for Next IPhone, Smaller HomePod (Bloomberg)
Screen time is nothing to feel guilty about during the coronavirus — for adults or kids (The Washington Post)

Episode Links

PTJ 331: Shack Wacky

April 7, 2020 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

As much of the country continues huddling at home to avoid spreading the coronavirus, El Kaiser and J.D. keep themselves busy with a look at the recent technology news — including the Zoom boom (and bust), Apple’s control of the weather and the debut of the new Quibi short-form video app. And for those who’ve now watched everything online, J.D. has a (Hopefully) Helpful Hint about digitizing your documents since you’re already stuck in the house. PTJ 331 is here to keep you company!

Links to Stories in This Week’s News Roundup

‘Zoombombing’ Becomes a Dangerous Organized Effort (The New York Times)
Zoom privacy and security issues: Here’s everything that’s wrong (so far) (Tom’s Guide)
NYC schools dropping Zoom because of security concerns (CNN)
School districts, including New York City’s, tell teachers to stop using Zoom because of online security issues (The Washington Post)
How to Keep Your Zoom Chats Private and Secure (WIRED)
Response to Research From University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab (Zoom Blog)
Skype has a Zoom-like video call function called ‘Meet Now’ (Mashable)
Tim Cook: Apple shipping custom face shields to medical workers as mask donations cross 20M (9to5Mac)
Apple Buys Dark Sky in an Android Worst-Case Scenario (WIRED)
Dark Sky Has a New Home (Dark Sky blog)
Exclusive: Apple likely buyer of NextVR, a live event streaming AR/VR company being sold for ~$100M(9to5Mac)
Leaked iOS 14 screenshot shows new wallpaper settings, beta code reveals Home screen widgets (9to5Mac)
Finally, progress on regulating facial recognition (Microsoft On the Issues)
A Microsoft Employee Literally Wrote Washington’s Facial Recognition Law (OneZero)
Broadband engineers threatened due to 5G coronavirus conspiracies (The Guardian)
People linking COVID-19 to 5G conspiracy in UK apparently cause damage (Business Insider)
Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman Gamble $1.8 Billion on Quibi (The New York Times)
Movie Theaters Turn to Streaming in Coronavirus Era (Variety)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

How to Digitize Your Most Important Documents (The New York Times)

Episode Links

PTJ 330: Pity the world

April 1, 2020 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

As the COVID-19 virus batters the global economy, El Kaiser and J.D. continue to self-isolate and offer up their own ideas to keep from getting too shackwacky. This week’s episode also takes a quick look at recent technology news, including two online gifts from Sir Patrick Stewart. PTJ 330, engage!

Candor: 267 companies have frozen hiring, 44 had layoffs, 36 rescinded offers, 111 are hiring (VentureBeat)
Record Jobless Claims Are Overwhelming States’ Aging Tech (WIRED)
Exclusive: Amazon entices warehouse employees to grocery unit with higher pay (Reuters)
Coronavirus Causes Dip in Podcast Listening (WWD)
Funding and grants for businesses and crisis response (Google Keyword blog)
Coronavirus: NHS turns to big tech to tackle Covid-19 hot spots (BBC News)
Apple releases new COVID-19 app and website based on CDC guidance (Apple)
Business on top, pajamas underneath: Walmart is selling work shirts, but not so many pants (The Washington Post)
Museum challenges people to recreate works of art at home (Yahoo)
Sir Patrick Stewart is reading sweet Shakespeare sonnets during social distancing (Entertainment Weekly)
“Sonnet I” by William Shakespeare
How to watch ‘Star Trek: Picard’ on CBS All Access for free (Fast Company)

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