Tag Archives: Amazon

PTJ 310: Apple-Picking Time

June 3, 2019 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

El Kaiser and J.D. were off binging Good Omens, but finished just in time for Apple’s 2019 edition of its World Wide Developers Conference. This week’s episode discusses the major announcements from the keynote — including a revamp of El Kaiser’s absolute favorite piece of Mac desktop hardware. Looming government regulation, verified Rotten Tomatoes reviews and a virus-riddled laptop celebrated as art are also in this week’s headlines. Listen in to Episode 310!

Links to Stories in This Week’s News Segment

“Good Omens” (Official Trailer | Prime Video)
How Amazon’s Good Omens series pays tribute to author Terry Pratchett (Polygon)
Robert Pattinson Is Officially ‘The Batman’ (Variety)

Apple’s WWDC Highlights: Death of iTunes and $6,000 Macs (The New York Times)
Why the iPhone 11 successor could be the phone to get (CNET)
Apple Suddenly Confirms Three New iPhones (Forbes)
Amazon could face heightened antitrust scrutiny under a new agreement between U.S. regulators (The Washington Post)
Google Is at the Center of a Storm Brewing Over Big Tech (The New York Times)
Twitter Is Running Lots More Ads, And Some Are Scammy Or Just Bad (BuzzFeed News)
Snapchat Employees Abused Data Access to Spy on Users (VICE)
An Update on How We Are Doing At Enforcing Our Community Standards (Facebook Newsroom)
Opinion | Nancy Pelosi and Fakebook’s Dirty Tricks (The New York Times)
IGTV Now Supports Landscape Videos (Instagram)
How Ireland became Europe’s data watchdog (BBC News)
What’s for dinner? Order it with Google (Google blog)
Amazon interested in buying Boost from T-Mobile, Sprint (Reuters)
Mobile carrier AT&T will now accept payments in crypto (The Block)
Amazon Is Working on a Device That Can Read Human Emotions (Bloomberg)
We’re introducing Verified Ratings and Reviews to Help You Make Your Viewing Decisions (Rotten Tomatoes)
Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass is coming to PC (Engadget)
Metadata is the biggest little problem plaguing the music industry (The Verge)
Auction for a laptop full of malware closes at $1.3 million (updated) (Engadget)

Apple World Wide Developers Conference 2019 Announcements

New iPod touch delivers even greater performance (Apple)
Apple previews iOS 13 (Apple)
The new iPadOS powers unique experiences designed for iPad (Apple)
Apple unveils powerful, all-new Mac Pro and groundbreaking Pro Display XDR (Apple)
watchOS 6 advances health and fitness capabilities for Apple Watch (Apple)
tvOS 13 powers the most personal cinematic experience ever (Apple)
Apple WWDC 2019 Keynote Video (Apple)
The Mac Pro Cheese Grater Is Back (And It Looks Powerful as Hell) (Gizmodo)

Episode Links, Podcast

Episode 308: Separation Anxiety

May 10, 2019 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

El Kaiser and JD finally got out of Avengers: Endgame and are back in the recording bunker to discuss recent tech news – including Google’s I/O conference and a former Facebook founder’s call for the government to bust up his former company. JD also explores the new movement that have some people spending less time staring at their smartphones screens. Episode 308 awaits!

Links to Stories In This Week’s News Segment

The 8 biggest announcements from the Google I/O 2019 keynote (The Verge)
I/O 2019: New features to help you develop, release, and grow your business on Google Play (Android Developers Blog)
Facebook talked privacy, Google actually built it (TechCrunch)
Google’s YouTube Music Tops 15 Million Subscribers (Bloomberg)
The 5 biggest announcements from Facebook’s F8 developer conference keynote (The Verge)
It’s Time to Break Up Facebook (The New York Times)
Video game ‘loot boxes’ would be outlawed in many games under forthcoming federal bill (The Washington Post)
FTC Members Unanimously Press Congress for Tough National Privacy Protections (Gizmodo)
Member of Sophisticated China-Based Hacking Group Indicted for Series of Computer Intrusions, Including 2015 Data Breach of Health Insurer Anthem Inc. Affecting Over 78 Million People (Department of Justice)
Tenants win as settlement orders landlords give physical keys over smart locks (CNET)
Los Angeles Uber drivers join cities across the U.S. in strike ahead of much-anticipated IPO (The Los Angeles Times)
Windows Hello FIDO2 certification gets you closer to passwordless (Microsoft Tech Community)
Jeff Bezos unveils Moon lander concept (BBC News)
Avengers: Endgame adds the Spider-Man trailer as a post-credits scene (Polygon)

Break Up Phone (For A While, Anyway)

Do Not Disturb: How I Ditched My Phone and Unbroke My Brain (The New York Times)
Use Screen Time on Your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch (Apple Support)
Digital Wellbeing (Google)

Episode Links

PTJ 306: Internet Cleanup in Aisle Three!

April 12, 2019 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Freshly returned from spring break, El Kaiser and JD jump into the week’s headlines — including government attempts to regulate technology platforms and robots rolling through Walmart. JD also has a (Hopefully) Helpful Hint for wrangling the massive photo collection stuffed on your smartphone. Push play to hear it all on Episode 306!

Julian Assange Charged by U.S. With Conspiracy to Hack a Government Computer (The New York Times)
WikiLeaks Founder Charged in Computer Hacking Conspiracy (United States Department of Justice)
The UK’s online laws could be the future of the internet—and that’s got people worried (MIT Technology Review)
The Online Harms White Paper (GOV.UK)
Websites to be fined over ‘online harms’ under new proposals (BBC News)
The Deceptive Experiences To Online Users Reduction (DETOUR) Act (Scribd)
U.S. senators introduce social media bill to ban ‘dark patterns’ tricks (Reuters)
YouTube Disables Comments on Livestream of Hearing on Hate Speech (Variety)
#SquadGoals: How Automated Assistants are Helping Us Work Smarter (Walmart Newsroom)
Walmart to expand in-store tech, including Pickup Towers for online orders and robots (TechCrunch)
Asking Alexa for news no longer has to stop with the latest headlines (Nieman Journalism Lab)
Amazon Workers Are Listening to What You Tell Alexa (Bloomberg)
Facebook’s new Watch Party video-streaming feature is wildly popular with pirates, who use it to run illicit movie marathons (Business Insider India)
AP to fact-check video, Spanish-language content on Facebook (Associated Press)
Opera introduces Reborn 3, the first desktop browser with Web 3, faster VPN and ad blocker (Opera blog)
Will Apple Just Kill iTunes Already? (Gizmodo)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

Organizing Your Unwieldy Photo Collection Is Easier Than You Think (The New York Times)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 303: Fire in the Troll Hole!

March 11, 2019 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Can Big Tech get busted up and does Facebook’s pivot to privacy seem legit? El Kaiser and J.D. roll through the recent news, stopping to ponder the “Save the Internet” Act, a slew of new streaming channels and the success of Captain Marvel at the box office — despite concentrated efforts from certain quarters to drag down the film’s ratings. It’s all here on PTJ 303, where we also have our annual guide to helping your friends and family avoid tax-season scams this spring.

Links to News Stories on This Week’s Show

Here’s how we can break up Big Tech (Elizabeth Warren on Medium)
Elizabeth Warren vows to break up tech giants if elected in 2020 (BBC News)
A Privacy-Focused Vision for Social Networking (Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook)
Facebook says the future is private messaging, not public posts (Columbia Journalism Review)
This could be the beginning of the end for Facebook’s social network (Recode)
The False Promise of Mark Zuckerberg’s Come-to-Jesus Manifesto (Vanity Fair)
Combatting Vaccine Misinformation (Facebook Newsroom)
Facebook sues Ukrainian quiz-makers for stealing user data with malware plugins (The Verge)
SXSW Festival
Sunshine Week
The US Government Will Be Scanning Your Face At 20 Top Airports, Documents Show (BuzzFeed News)
In New York City? Grab a BuzzFeed print newspaper, today only (Nieman Lab)
Bicameral Democratic Leaders Unveil Save The Internet Act To Restore Net Neutrality Protections (House Committee on Energy & Commerce)
Text of the “Save the Internet” Act (House Committee on Energy & Commerce)
“I’m Just a Bill” (Schoolhouse Rock)
Democrats unveil “Save The Internet Act” to restore net neutrality laws (NBC News)
Colorado Senate passes bill to reinstate net neutrality regulations (Colorado Watchdog)
Disney’s new streaming service will offer entire Disney Vault of classic films (Fast Company)
NBC News Readies May Launch of Streaming-Video Service (Variety)
Comedy Central Launches YouTube Originals Channel (Variety)
Crew Dragon Splashes Down in Atlantic Ending First Commercial Crew Mission (NASA)
Trolls Are Tanking Captain Marvel’s Rotten Tomatoes Reviews. But They Can’t Stop Its Box Office Haul (Fortune)
Box Office: “Captain Marvel” Flies to Historic $153M in U.S., $455M Globally (The Hollywood Reporter)

Be On Guard This Tax Season

IRS Dirty Dozen 2019 (Internal Revenue Service)
Tax Scams / Consumer Alerts (Internal Revenue Service)
How to know it’s really the IRS calling or knocking on your door (Internal Revenue Service)
IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting (Treasury.gov)
Automated calls requesting tax payments in the form of iTunes or other gift cards (Internal Revenue Service)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 301: Golden “Opportunity”

February 14, 2019 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

As NASA declares its Mars Opportunity rover’s mission to be over, El Kaiser and J.D. raise a glass to the plucky little machine who did far more than what was expected of it — and sent back so much science. This week’s batch of headlines also brings a potential new subscription service (or two) from Apple, Amazon bailing out of New York City and a Tinder-like app for cattle. J.D. also discusses apps to better plan your home renovation. Here’s a toast to Opportunity from PTJ Episode 301!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Show

NASA’s Opportunity Rover Dies on Mars (The New York Times)
NASA’s Opportunity Rover Mission on Mars Comes to End (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
Photos From the Opportunity Rover’s Mission on Mars (The New York Times)
Publishers Chafe at Apple’s Terms for Subscription News Service (The Wall Street Journal)
Publishers cry foul at Apple’s terms in new sub service (Digital Ad Age)
Apple targeting April launch for video service (CNBC)
Apple Invites Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon to Video Launch (Bloomberg)
Apple Event Planned For March 25 Around A News Subscription Product (BuzzFeed)
Announcing Extra Crunch (TechCrunch)
Apple fails to block porn & gambling ‘Enterprise’ apps (TechCrunch)
620 million accounts stolen from 16 hacked websites now for sale on dark web, seller boasts (The Register)
JP Morgan is rolling out the first US bank-backed cryptocurrency (CNBC)
Mozilla to use machine learning to find code bugs before they ship (Ars Technica)
Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Headquarters (The New York Times)
Amazon is acquiring Wi-Fi router company Eero (Business Insider)
An Update on Android Things (Android Developers Blog)
LinkedIn debuts LinkedIn Live, a new live video broadcast service (TechCrunch)
Tudder (ProductHunt)
Tinder-style app for cows tries to help the meat market (BBC)
Tinder for Cows: Tudder Mobile App for Breeders (Bloomberg)

Home Improvement

How to Make a 3-D Model of Your Home Renovation Vision (The New York Times)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint, Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 296: “Ring Out the False, Ring In the True!”

December 28, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

As 2018 comes clanging to a close. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss Amazon’s healthy holiday sales, Instagram’s effects on people, Snapchat’s “dog lenses” and a new essay that wonders just how much of the Internet is real anymore. And in the last (Hopefully) Helpful Hint of the year, J.D. offers a guide for preserving your one-of-a-kind family photographs and slides in the digital realm.
Ring up Episode 296, right here!

Links to Stories on This Week’s Show

Amazon’s Record Holiday Shows Consumers’ Spending Splurge (Bloomberg)
How Instagram has been good for independent bookstores like Books Are Magic and the Last Bookstore (Vox)
Instagram Apologizes for Horizontal-Scrolling Test Glitch, Rolls It Back After Quick and Furious Backlash (Variety)
Android TV sees huge growth thanks to 100 pay TV partners (9to5Google)
Apple’s Future Looks Rotten (Gizmodo)
Patreon Bars Anti-Feminist for Racist Speech, Inciting Revolt (The New York Times)
Snapchat Adds Dog Lenses, But I Still Won’t Use It (Gizmodo)
How Much of the Internet Is Fake? (New York magazine)
We finally started taking screen time seriously in 2018 (TechCrunch)
Hot tub hack reveals washed-up security (BBC News)
“Ring out, wild bells,” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint: Digitize and Fix Your Ancient Photos

How to Rescue, Repair and Revive Old Family Photos (The New York Times)
Printers & Scanners (Wirecutter)
Google PhotoScan
Adobe Photoshop Fix

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 295: Smokin’!

December 18, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

The year is winding down, but the movie selection at the local cineplex is heating up with several sizzling releases this month. Also in the hot seat: Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai, who got to have his belated chat with Congressional members, and social-media companies who missed the massive amount of misinformation spread across their platforms in 2016 and beyond. And for those don’t want to burn a lot of cash on wireless headphones, El Kaiser has a a review for you. Fire up Episode 295!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Show

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse won the box office with a $35 million opening weekend (Vox)
How Peter Jackson Made WWI Footage Seem Astonishingly New (The New York Times)
Can Aquaman and Wonder Woman save the DC superhero universe? (The Independent)
Aquaman (Official Movie Site)
New report on Russian disinformation, prepared for the Senate, shows the operation’s scale and sweep (The Washington Post)
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube Withheld Russia Data, Reports Say (The New York Times)
Russian disinformation teams targeted Robert S. Mueller III, says report prepared for Senate (The Washington Post)
Russian Trolls Came for Instagram, Too (The New York Times)
Russian 2016 Influence Operation Targeted African-Americans on Social Media (The New York Times)
Google Hudson Square: our expanded New York campus (Google Keyword blog)
Google CEO Sundar Pichai grilled by Congress on privacy, bias and China plans (CNN)
Amazon Is Reportedly Sick of Hawking You Cheap ‘Crap’ That Doesn’t Make It Any Money (Gizmodo)
A Year Without Net Neutrality: No Big Changes (Yet) (Wired)
Huawei Hemorrhages Allies in Europe on Growing Security Concerns (Bloomberg)
France to introduce digital tax in new year (BBC News)
SQLite bug impacts thousands of apps, including all Chromium-based browsers (ZDNet)
Kiwibot delivery robot catches fire after ‘human error‘ (BBC News)
Students set up candlelight vigil for delivery robot that caught on fire (Mashable)

The El Kaiser Hardware Review

Mixcder E7 Active Noise Cancelling Bluetooth Headphones with Built-in Mic

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 292: Know When to Hold ‘Em, Know When to Fold ‘Em

November 13, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Smartphones that open up into mini-tablets are on the way, thanks to several companies gearing up to expand the traditional rectangular slab into new form factors. Samsung had a big event to introduce its bendy Galaxy X, even though a smaller company called Royole jumped out in front of the pack with its own FlexiPai device a few weeks ago. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss this new look for phones, as well as East Coast expansion efforts by Google and Amazon, and other news of the week. J.D. also explains what those “waterproof” and “water-resistant” ratings for mobile devices really mean. Press the Play button to unfold Episode 292 of Pop Tech Jam!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Show

This is Samsung’s foldable smartphone (The Verge)
SDC 2018: Samsung Reveals Breakthroughs in Intelligence, IoT and Mobile UX (Samsung)
Comcast making video-streaming box for broadband-only customers (CNBC)
Why the Google Walkout Was a Watershed Moment in Tech (The New York Times)
Google Overhauls Sexual Misconduct Policy After Employee Walkout (The New York Times)
Google Plans Large New York City Expansion (The Wall Street Journal)
Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Between Long Island City, N.Y., and Arlington, Va. (The New York Times)
Amazon HQ2 in Long Island City, Queens: What the neighborhood is like (CNBC)
Ford buys electric scooter startup Spin (TechCrunch)
Why Children’s Fondness for YouTube Puts the Company at Risk (The Wall Street Journal)
Facebook Had a Good Election Day. But It Can’t Let Up Now (The New York Times)
Amazon begins mailing printed holiday toy catalog (CNBC)

Just How “Waterproof” Is Your Phone?

The Swim Test for Smartphones (The New York Times)
International Electrotechnical Commission
Guide to Ingress Protection Ratings (Element Materials Technology)
Are Galaxy devices waterproof? (Samsung)
Help prevent water damage to your Pixel phone (Google)
About splash, water, and dust resistance of iPhone 7 and later (Apple)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 289: October Surprises

October 15, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Apple possibly giving away stuff for free! A Windows 10 update that ate people’s files! Crackdowns on cyberbullying and political spam on social media! Some surprises are better than others, but then there were things that were NO surprise, like Facebook trying to hoover out even more personal data from users. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss it all, as well as a recent guide to deleting some of your social media accounts for good. Come on in from the cold and have a listen to PTJ 289!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Episode

Apple plans to give away original content for free to device owners (CNBC)
WarnerMedia Plans to Unveil Streaming Service by End of 2019 (The New York Times)
Updated version of Windows 10 October 2018 Update released to Windows Insiders (Windows Experience blog)
Microsoft Says It’s Fixed That Windows 10 October Update Bug That Mass-Deleted Entire Directories (Gizmodo)
Xbox One October update: new avatars, Dolby Vision, and Alexa support (The Verge)
Instagram now uses machine learning to detect bullying within photos (TechCrunch)
New Tools to Limit Bullying and Spread Kindness on Instagram (Instagram)
Google tried to beat Facebook and all it got was Facebook’s headache (CNN)
Facebook Isn’t Sorry — It Just Wants Your Data (BuzzFeed News)
Facebook removes hundreds of US political pages for ‘inauthentic activity’ (Technology | The Guardian)
Removing Additional Inauthentic Activity from Facebook (Facebook Newsroom)
Facebook Is Giving Advertisers Access to Your Shadow Contact Information (Gizmodo)
3D Photos Now Rolling out on Facebook and in VR (Facebook 360 Video)
Google Home Hub announced: Google’s first Smart Display (9to5Google)
Google Pixel 3 and 3 XL announced with bigger screens and best cameras yet (The Verge)
U.S. Republican senator seeks briefings on reported China hacking attack (Reuters)
The Cybersecurity World Is Debating WTF Is Going on With Bloomberg’s Chinese Microchip Stories (Motherboard)
Watchdog: ‘Nearly all’ new US weapons systems vulnerable to cyber attacks (CNNPolitics)
A flood of fake installers will really update Flash for you – but also install cryptocurrency mining malware (TechCrunch)
Twitter makes Moments creation a desktop exclusive as it drops support from Android app (9to5Google)
Amazon scraps secret AI recruiting tool that showed bias against women (Reuters)
Click: Can VR change lives in the real world? (BBC News)

How to Delete Facebook

How to Delete Facebook and Instagram From Your Life Forever (The New York Times)
How do I temporarily deactivate my Facebook account? (Facebook)
How do I permanently delete my Facebook account? (Facebook)
Delete Your Account (Instagram Help Center)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 288: Hot New Suits for Fall

October 6, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

It’s not just the leaves starting to waft through the air here in North America — plenty of lawsuits are swirling as well. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss some of the bigger ones, including legal action aimed at California’s new net neutrality rules and Facebook’s latest woes. And for those who aren’t fans of the new Gmail web design, J.D. has some tips for making the interface feel more familiar. Click on through to PTJ 288!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Show

The Trump administration is suing California to quash its new net neutrality law (The Washington Post)
Facebook’s Massive Security Breach: Everything We Know (WIRED)
Facebook Faces Potential $1.63 Billion Fine in Europe Over Data Breach (The Wall Street Journal)
Content Moderator Sues Facebook, Says Job Gave Her PTSD (Motherboard)
Facebook’s recent ‘bear hug’ of Instagram frustrated its independent founders (Recode)
Instagram Founders Resign Over Differences With Facebook (New York)
SEC settles charges with Tesla’s Elon Musk, will remain as CEO (CNBC)
LinkNYC’s 5 million users make 500,000 phone calls each month i
Use of internet, social media, digital devices plateaus in US (Pew Research Center)
Amazon And Snapchat Form A Powerful Partnership (Forbes)
Google Chief Agrees to Testify to Congress (The New York Times)
Google Names New Privacy Chief, Offers Framework for Regulation (Bloomberg)
Google Privacy Framework Document (Google)
Introducing Google Discover: Discover new information and inspiration with Search, no query required (Google blog)
Safari’s “Siri Suggested” Search Results Highlighted Conspiracy Sites And Fake News (BuzzFeed News)
Microsoft reveals huge Windows 10 news ahead of major update (Express)
Windows 10 October 2018 Update: The 7 best new features (CNET)
Windows 10 October 2018 Update may be released on October 2 (Neowin)
Microsoft Whiteboard launches on iOS, hits the web in preview (Windows Central)
Mouse and Keyboard Support for Xbox One Developers (Xbox Wire)
Yes, Lakers Legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Is Writing For “Veronica Mars” (LAist)
“Doctor Who” Returns Oct. 7, 2018 (BBC)

The New Gmail Is Here to Stay

Learn what’s new in Gmail (Gmail Help)
5 ways the new Gmail can help you get more done (Google Keyword blog)
Gmail Support Page
See Gmail in standard or basic HTML version (Gmail Help)

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!