August | 2023 | POP | TECH

As August winds down and product announcements are scarce, El Kaiser dives into Season 1 of Only Murders in the Building for a properly depicted New York City apartment-living experience. In the meantime, J.D. reads up on the latest in drones ‘n’ cloud headlines, as well as news of the continuing nostalgia for the Atari 2600. All this and more on PTJ 371!

• “Only Murders in the Building” (Hulu)
• Walmart and Wing set to expand drone delivery together in Dallas metro (Wing blog)
• A.I. Brings the Robot Wingman to Aerial Combat (The New York Times)
• Updates to our storage policy on Dropbox Advanced (Dropbox blog)
• Apple Bets on Revamped iPad Pro to Reignite Sluggish Tablet Sales (Bloomberg)
• ‘We’re Winning’: Apple Formally Endorses Right to Repair Legislation After Spending Millions Fighting It (404 Media)
• Max To Offer 24/7 Live News Streaming Service With “CNN Max”
• Launching On September 27 As Part Of An Open Beta In U.S. (Warner Brothers Discovery Press Room)
• Amazon Luna and LG Electronics team up to launch Luna on LG Smart TVs (Amazon Luna blog)
• Atari launches replica 2600 console to go with all its replica 2600 cartridges (Ars Technica)

Which is better — paying big bucks for the in-theater movie experience, or waiting a couple months and watching the flick at home? Are streaming services jacking their monthly prices too high for the average consumer? What’s with all this renewed global interest in the Moon and what’s going on with our Mars missions? And: are we ready to see holiday merch for sale while we’re in Back to School shopping mode? El Kaiser and J.D. discuss all of these pressing topics — and more — on Episode 370 of Pop Tech Jam!

• “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem”
• Barbie’s So Big, Folks Made It Their First Theatrical Pandemic Movie (Gizmodo)
• ‘Sharknado’ Channels ‘Barbie’ as B-Movie Hit Gets New Poster, Trailer Ahead of 10th Anniversary Theatrical Release – Exclusive (The Hollywood Reporter)
• ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ Set for Digital Home Release Aug. 29 (MediaPlay News)
• Hollywood calls time on golden era of cheap streaming (Financial Times)
• Mark Zuckerberg-Elon Musk Cage Fight Update: Speculation Grows That Tech Tycoons Could Slug It Out In Rome’s Ancient Colosseum (Deadline)
• Apple Plans Major ‘Watch X’ Overhaul for Device’s 10-Year Anniversary (Bloomberg)
• Forget Black Friday: The holiday shopping season starts now
(Axios)
• A Time Capsule of Human Creativity, Stored in the Sky (The New York Times)
• Moon Missions (NASA)
• Mars Sample Return Mission (NASA)

On this episode of Pop Tech Jam, El Kaiser shares his love of My Hero Academia and open-backed headphones for audio-mixing. Meanwhile, J.D. goes to a movie theater for the first time since 2019 to observe the fuss over the Barbie movie — a film that seems to be outperforming both Tom Cruise and Harrison Ford this summer. All this and more on PTJ 369!

• My Hero Academia (Viz)
• Barbie’s Box Office In Weekend 2 Is Bigger Than Most 2023 Movies’ Opening Weekends (MovieWeb)
• Twitter Becomes X: The Future Of The ‘Everything App’
(Search Engine Journal)
• Twitter Threatens Legal Action Against Nonprofit That Tracks Hate Speech (The New York Times)
• Letters from the lawyers: Musk threatens CCDH with brazen attempt to silence honest criticism. (Center for Countering Digital Hate)
• Apple says it’s aware of a bug that may affect Screen Time restrictions for kids (Engadget)
• A Tech Checklist for the Dark Side of Summer Weather
(The New York Times)
• Did a Houston Woman Bake Bread in Her Mailbox? (Snopes)
• Grado Labs SR125x
• Austrian Audio Hi-X65 Headphones
• Sennheiser Sennheiser Audiophile Headphones

Monthly Archives: August 2023

PTJ 370: SPACE WARS AND MOON BASES

PTJ 369: Think Pink

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!