How long until a hacked social-media platform causes real damage in the world? Are TikTok’s days in the US numbered? Is time running out for political ads on Facebook? Is anybody watching Quibi? El Kaiser and JD have questions — and opinions. Also, what local stores and restaurants are still open as the COVID-19 pandemic eases up or crashes down around the country? Just dial up PTJ 341 to find out answers to at least some of these questions!
Stories in This Week’s News Segment
- An update on our security incident (Twitter)
- Hackers Tell the Story of the Twitter Attack From the Inside (The New York Times)
- EBay Nears Deal to Sell Classified-Ad Unit to Adevinta (The Wall Street Journal)
- Spotify Fans Can Better Connect to Creators With New Video Podcasts (Spotify)
- Apple commits to be 100 percent carbon neutral for its supply chain and products by 2030 (Apple)
- TikTok: Amazon says email asking staff to remove app ‘sent in error’ (BBC)
- TikTok Users Respond to Potential Ban (The New York Times)
- DNC and RNC warn campaigns about using TikTok (CNNPolitics)
- House votes to ban TikTok on federal devices (Politico)
- Under fire from Washington, TikTok touts U.S. job growth (Axios)
- Facebook Considers Banning Political Ads Before US 2020 Election (Bloomberg)
- Facebook’s Civil Rights Meeting Didn’t Go Well (The New York Times)
- SiriusXM Is Buying Stitcher in Deal Worth Up to $325 Million (Variety)
- Apple allocates more than $400 million to combat California housing crisis (Apple)
- Is Anyone Watching Quibi? (Vulture)
- Quibi App Free Trial to Paying Customer Conversions Very Low (Vulture)
- The Data-Driven Tech Engine at the Heart of Hollywood’s Content Factories (The Wall Street Journal)
- Top Ubisoft Executives Out Amid Allegations Of Company-Wide Misconduct (Kotaku)
- Mozilla suspends Firefox Send service while it addresses malware abuse (ZDNet)
- Linux team approves new terminology, bans terms like ‘blacklist’ and ‘slave’ (ZDNet)
(Hopefully) Helpful Hint
Hi,
So happy to hear you two again, Pop Tech Jam is always a joy and high point of the week for me.
Enjoyed the latest show, here are a couple of thoughts:
1. I think that, perhaps, Pedro and I are the only ones who enjoyed Solo. We should watch it together sometime.
2. Leo Laporte is alive and well over on TWIT, still cranking out podcasts. He originally called them netcasts, but that changed a while ago.
3. Pedro was wondering why people stay on Facebook. For me, it is the only way to share my photography with my friends and communities all over the world. I also share on Instagram, with more random results, and on Twitter where I rarely get any response. I would love to find a new platform where I can reach all these people, but haven’t found it yet…BTW, I do have my own website, but it is hard to direct traffic to it…
Ken G
Hi, Ken! So great to hear from you! And thanks for the update on the mighty TWiT empire.
As for “Solo,” I found it watchable (shower scene caught me by surprise, I’ll admit) and a decent summer movie. However, “Rogue One” is still firmly lodged at the top of my Top Ten List of Star Wars Productions.