Tag Archives: Amazon

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint, Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 282: Confidence Level

July 27, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

On this week’s episode, El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the things that are making the tech world shake, rattle and roll — including Amazon’s facial recognition software not passing muster with the American Civil Liberties Union, Facebook’s stock price plummeting and the possibility of the Broadway musical Hamilton coming to Netflix. In the (Hopefully) Helpful Hint, J.D. also describes a new scam going around that shows off an old password you’ve actually used in the past. Ride along with Episode 282!

Links to Stories on This Week’s Show

Amazon’s Rekognition messes up, matches 28 lawmakers to mugshots (Ars Technica)
Facebook Reports Second Quarter 2018 Results (Facebook)
Facebook Stock Tumbles as User and Sales Growth Slows After Scandals (The New York Times)
Facebook’s $100 billion-plus rout is the biggest loss in stock market history (CNBC)
Senate Intel Panel Plans Hearing With Facebook, Google, And Twitter Execs (BuzzFeed News)
Watch Party Launches Around the World (Facebook Newsroom)
Facebook rolls out social video feature Watch Party to all Groups (Marketing Land)
YouTube hits Infowars with strike for hate speech, child endangerment (The Hill)
Trump Criticizes Twitter for ‘Shadow Banning’ Some Republicans (Bloomberg)
Twitter will lock your account if you change your display name to Elon Musk (The Verge)
Building on our cloud security leadership to help keep businesses protected (Google Keyword blog)
Google unveils 2FA ‘Titan Security Key’ w/ custom firmware, coming to Google Store (9to5Google)
A milestone for Chrome security: marking HTTP as “not secure” (Google Keyword blog)
Chrome now alerts you to unsecured HTTP sites (Engadget)
Samsung Display’s ‘Unbreakable Panel’ Certified by Underwriters Laboratories (Samsung Newsroom)
Round-up: user ‘solutions’ for thermal throttling of the i9 2018 MacBook Pro (Apple Insider)
The MacBook Pro’s throttling issues are fixed, but Apple hasn’t solved its biggest problem (Macworld)
Spotify added 8 million paid subscribers thanks to family plans (Engadget)
Liquid water ‘lake’ revealed on Mars (BBC News)
‘Hamilton’ Filmed Performance With Lin-Manuel Miranda Could Hit Big Screen: Report (Deadline)
myMTA app for Android and iOS
New York Today: A New App From the M.T.A. (The New York Times)
MTA Launches Test Version of System-Wide ‘MYmta’ App and New Responsive Website Designed by Customers (Metropolitan Transit Authority)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

- An Old Scam With a New Twist (The New York Times)
- Krebs on Security

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 279: The Long Arm of the Law

July 9, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

In that quiet time of the year between developer conferences and the back-to-school sales, product announcements are scarce — but the hazy, lazy days of summer are no vacation for the legal world! As El Kaiser and J.D. discover on this week’s episode, court rulings and decisions by lawmakers dominated the news this week, with a few bug revivals thrown in for good measure. J.D. also explores the new Windows 10 Timeline feature in Microsoft’s latest operating-system update, so beat the heat and find a cool place to settle in with Episode 279!

Links to News Stories on This Week’s Episode

EU lawmakers vote against tough line on copyright reform (Reuters)
Kim Dotcom loses latest appeal against US extradition (BBC News)
Yelp can’t be forced to take down libelous reviews, court rules (The Verge)
Why California Privacy Law Promises Chaos by 2020 (eWeek)
Third-party developers could have been reading your Gmail messages – here’s what to do about it (London Evening Standard)
Ensuring your security and privacy within Gmail (Google Blog)
New Facebook privacy mishap: A software bug that ‘unblocked’ people (Recode)
Letting People Know About a Blocking Bug (Facebook Newsroom)
Facebook’s Political Rule Blocks Ads for Bush’s Beans, Singers Named Clinton (Bloomberg)
Facebook Ads Offer Peek at Looming Supreme Court Fight (The New York Times)
Ugandans Aren’t Happy With New Tax for Using Social Media (Time)
Akamai Releases Summer 2018 State of the Internet Security Report (Akamai)
This password-stealing malware just added a new way to infect your PC (ZDNet)
Tech-support scammers revive bug that sends Chrome users into a panic (Ars Technica)
Samsung Note 9 Premium Smartphone to Debut on Aug. 9 (eWeek)
Amazon Takes a Page From Toys ‘R’ Us With a Holiday Catalog (Bloomberg)
An Archive of Radio Shack Catalogs

Windows 10 Timeline

Introducing Windows Timeline (Windows channel on YouTube)
Get help with timeline (Microsoft)
How to Use Timeline With Windows 10 (The New York Times)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 278: Fun with FragChucks

July 2, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

On this week’s episode, El Kaiser discusses his return to gaming and adventures with hardware, and J.D. explores the world of indoor maps. In tech news this week, Disney marches on to a Fox acquisition, Facebook tries a way to block spoilers, the Dark Net gets busted and this fall’s new Doctor Who series will have its own unique look and sound. Find a cool spot to kick back and spin up PTJ 278!

Links to Stories on This Week’s Show

Disney Wins Approval From Department of Justice for $71 Billion Fox Bid (The Wrap)
Comcast Is Weighing Private Equity Partnerships for Fox Bid (Bloomberg)
Twitter adds support for login verification with USB security key (HelpNetSecurity)
Facebook’s retreat from the news has painful for publishers—including Slate. (Slate)
Keyword Snooze: A New Way to Help Control Your News Feed (Facebook Newsroom)
Apple May Create Subscription Service Bundle That Includes Original TV Content, Apple Music and News (Mac Rumors)
Apple, Samsung Resolve Smartphone Design Fight After 7 Years (Bloomberg)
First Nationwide Undercover Operation Targeting Darknet Vendors Results in Arrests of More Than 35 Individuals Selling Illicit Goods and the Seizure of Weapons, Drugs and More Than $23.6 Million (Department of Justice)
Amazon Alexa devices in hotels raise privacy concerns for some (Purdue News Service)
Amazon to acquire online pharmacy PillPack in a deal that could disrupt the US drugstore business (CNBC)
Snap gaming platform on the way now that Facebook has copied everything else (BGR)
Introducing the first version of BBC Sounds (BBC Blogs)
Doctor Who: Season 11 release date, trailer, plot details and more (CNet)
“Doctor Who” on BBC One (BBC)
Jodie Whittaker is the Doctor! (BBC)
Jodie Whittaker Unveils Brand New Doctor Who Logo (BBC)
Who is Segun Akinola? The composer reinventing the Doctor Who theme (The Guardian)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

Explore the Great Indoors (The New York Times)
How GPS Works (GPS.gov)
GPS.gov

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 276: Game On!

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

A judge cleared the way for AT&T and Time Warner to merge, Apple plans to reinforce its iPhone security, Microsoft made a bunch of announcements — but hey, here comes the annual E3 event to bring in the fun. El Kaiser and J.D. sort through it all before a discussion about the VPNFilter malware — you know, that one the FBI was warning about the other week — and how to protect your router from it. Spin up PTJ 276 to hear it all!

DOJ Won’t Seek to Halt AT&T-Time Warner Merger Pending Any Appeal (Variety)
AT&T Closes Acquisition of Time Warner (The New York Times)
Net neutrality died today as FCC’s vote to repeal rules goes into effect (PC Gamer)
Comcast, AT&T, Verizon say they have no paid prioritization plans (Ars Technica)
SB-822 Communications: broadband Internet access service (California Legislative Information)
Apple to Close iPhone Security Hole That Police Use to Crack Devices (The New York Times)
Microsoft’s next-gen gaming plan: A new Xbox, and streaming for everyone else (Ars Technica)
Power and simplicity—updates to the Office 365 user experience (Microsoft 365 Blog)
Microsoft opens Office 2019 for Mac business preview (Engadget)
Over 100 UK tech leaders back new call for a people’s vote on Brexit (TechCrunch)
Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2018 (Reuters Institute)
See What’s Happening! (Twitter blog)
Exclusive: Microsoft takes aim at Amazon with push for checkout-free retail (Reuters)
John Boyega calls out Star Wars fans after harassment controversy (Polygon)
PC Gaming Show E3 2018: Everything and the kitchen sink (Ars Technica)
Announcing 2018-2019 Fortnite Competitive Season (Epic Games)
‘Skyrim: Very Special Edition’ with Alexa is not a joke, game arrives on Amazon Echo (Business Insider)
“Skyrim” for Amazon Alexa (Amazon)
“Skyrim: A Very Special Edition” (YouTube)

Reset Your Router

Your Wi-Fi Security Is Probably Weak. Here’s How to Fix That. (The New York Times)
VPNFilter exploits endpoints, targets new devices (Cisco Talos)
Justice Department Announces Actions to Disrupt Advanced Persistent Threat 28 Botnet of Infected Routers and Network Storage Devices (US Department of Justice)
Foreign Cyber Actors Target Home And Office Routers And Networked Devices Worldwide (FBI Public Service Announcement)
VPNFilter Destructive Malware (US-CERT)
Cisco Talos VPN Filter malware findings (UK National Cyber Security Centre)
VPNFilter router malware is a lot worse than everyone thought (The Register)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint, Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 273: Still the Right Stuff

May 21, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Yanny or Laurel? El Kaiser was too busy mixing up podcasts to weigh in, and J.D. thought the whole thing was dumb and tuned into Queen Ida and the Bon Temps Zydeco Band instead — but The New York Times built a handy little tool to demonstrate how audio frequencies factor into the matter. Beyond all that, Episode 273 serves up the week’s tech news, pours one out for Tom Wolfe and contemplates the strange notion of secure and private email. Give a listen!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Episode

Senate votes to overturn Ajit Pai’s net neutrality repeal (Ars Technica)
Twitter is going to make third-party apps worse starting in August (The Verge)
Microsoft Plans Low-Cost Tablet Line to Rival iPad (Bloomberg)
Facebook adds Voice Posts, Stories archive, and new cloud storage features (The Verge)
Facebook lets advertisers target users based on sensitive interests (The Guardian)
Mark Zuckerberg to Meet European Parliament Members Over Facebook’s Data Use (The New York Times)
Jigsaw’s Project Shield Will Protect Campaigns From Online Attacks (Wired)
YouTube is going to charge more to see ad-free shows like ‘Cobra Kai’ (Recode)
Music on YouTube will now include expanded artist credits and link to official video (9to5Google)
Amazon Prime members get exclusive savings at Whole Foods (Amazon Press Room)
Scott Kelly: How Tom Wolfe Changed My Life (The New York Times)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

Finding Privacy for Email (The New York Times)

Episode Links, Podcast, Tech Term

PTJ 271: Hand of F8

May 7, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Fresh off the latest Facebook user-abuse apology media tour and visit with the U.S. Congress, Mark Zuckerberg made a slew of announcements at this week’s F8 Developers Conference in California, which El Kaiser and J.D. discuss on this week’s episode — along with other news from the tech realm. Episode 271 also sports a quick look at the big geek movies headed into theaters this summer and an explanation of “malvertising.” Spin up this latest installment of Pop Tech Jam to hear it all!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Show

Cambridge Analytica: Facebook data-harvest firm to shut (BBC News)
Facebook will let users opt out of its browsing history collection (Recode)
F8 2018: Sharing to Stories, AR Camera Effects, Oculus Go and More Highlights from Day 1 (Facebook Newsroom)
F8 2018: Open AI Frameworks, New AR/VR Advancements, and Other Highlights from Day 2 (Facebook Newsroom)
Facebook Fires Employee Who Allegedly Used Data Access to Stalk Women (Motherboard)
Facebook Agrees to Civil-Rights Audit (New York magazine)
Instagram Unveils a Bully Filter (The New York Times)
Facebook Has Begun To Rank News Organizations By Trust, Zuckerberg Says (BuzzFeed)
How to get the Windows 10 April 2018 Update (Windows Experience Blog)
A look at what the Windows 10 April 2018 update brings (Ars Technica)
Everything You Can Do in the Windows 10 April 2018 Update That You Couldn’t Before (Gizmodo)
Stay composed: here’s a quick rundown of the new Gmail (Google blog)
Google Wunderkind Is Building a Secret Social-Gaming Startup (Bloomberg)
Hulu passes 20 million subscribers, will finally offer offline viewing (TechCrunch)
Spotify stock plunges after reporting earnings for the first time (CNBC)
What the T-Mobile and Sprint merger means for you (The Washington Post)
California net neutrality bill that AT&T hates is coming to New York, too (Ars Technica)
Amazon Launches Own Pet Product Brand, Wag; Starts With Food (Bloomberg)
The 41 Must-See Movies of 2018 (Den of Geek)

Tech Term

Malvertising (Center for Internet Security)
Malvertising: Attack of the Ads (AVG)
Why Malvertising Is Cybercriminals’ Latest Sweet Spot (Wired)
You Don’t Want the Malware Prize (The New York Times)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 270: On the Hook

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

California fires a shot across the bow of the FCC’s net neutrality repeal, Amazon’s Alexa has a new do-it-yourself project for users and even aquariums aren’t safe on the Internet of Things. El Kaiser and J.D. sort through the technology news of the past 10 days before discussing a great vacation destination for aviation and NASA nerds: The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virgina, home to the National Air & Space Museum’s big collection of airplanes and spacecraft. Jump into it all here in Episode 270 of Pop Tech Jam!

Links to Stories Mentioned On This Week’s Show

Net neutrality bill moving ahead in California (San Jose Mercury News)
Netflix has considered buying theaters, including Mark Cuban’s Landmark, to gain an Oscar edge, sources say (Los Angeles Times)
Introducing Mobile Previews (Netflix)
MoviePass Parent’s Shares Crushed After Disclosing Pricing of Stock Sale (Variety)
Amazon’s new ‘Alexa Blueprints’ let anyone create custom Alexa skills and responses (TechCrunch)
Alexa Skill Blueprints is a new way for customers to create customized Alexa responses and personalized skills (BusinessWire)
New Android Chat (The Verge)
The key moments from Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony to Congress (The Guardian)
Exclusive: Facebook to put 1.5 billion users out of reach of new EU privacy law (Reuters)
Americans Want Online Information Freedoms Over Government Restriction of Fake News (Pew Research Center)
Microsoft Extension Aims to Improve Google Chrome Security (Fortune)
Hackers once stole a casino’s high-roller database through a thermometer in the lobby fish tank (Business Insider)

Geek Vacation Destination

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 267: Facebork

March 20, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

As The Social Network once again finds itself in the hot seat over user privacy, El Kaiser and J.D. ponder the big picture and Facebook’s effect on civic affairs. After the weekly roundup of tech news, this week’s episode also features some very special guests — and not all of them are chatbots. Fasten your seatbelt and climb aboard Episode 267!

Links to Stories in This Week’s News Segment

How Trump Consultants Exploited the Facebook Data of Millions (The New York Times)
Here’s how Facebook allowed Cambridge Analytica to get data for 50 million users (Recode)
Suspending Cambridge Analytica and SCL Group from Facebook (Facebook)
Pursuing Forensic Audits to Investigate Cambridge Analytica Claims (Facebook)
Whistleblower: Facebook Suspended Me for Exposing Cambridge Analytica (The Daily Beast)
Cambridge Analytica, the shady data firm that might be a key Trump-Russia link, explained (Vox)
U.S. and British lawmakers demand answers from Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg (The Washington Post)
Facebook may have violated FTC privacy deal, say former federal officials, triggering risk of massive fines (The Washington Post)
Massachusetts AG to investigate Facebook, Cambridge Analytica (CNN)
Facebook and the endless string of worst-case scenarios (TechCrunch)
YouTube suggested conspiracy videos to children using its Kids app (Business Insider)
YouTube didn’t tell Wikipedia about its plans for Wikipedia (The Verge)
YouTube Will Link Directly to Wikipedia to Fight Conspiracy Theories (Wired)
The @Wikimedia Foundation statement about the recent @YouTube announcement (via Twitter)
Apple to Host March 27 Event in Chicago: ‘Creative New Ideas for Teachers and Students‘ (Mac Rumors)
NBC News plans online streaming service to attract younger viewers (Reuters)
Twitter working on Snap Discover competitor with location-based snaps (CNBC)
Snapchat’s Stock Sinks After Rihanna Denounces Domestic Violence Ad (NPR)
The real world as your playground: Build real-world games with Google Maps APIs (Google Geo Developers Blog)
Google is opening up Maps so game developers can create the next Pokémon Go (The Verge)
Financial Services: New restricted financial products policy / June 2018 (Google)
Google banning cryptocurrency-related advertising (CBNC)
Stephen Hawking: Tributes pour in for ‘inspirational’ physicist (BBC News)
Stephen Hawking’s Star Trek Cameo Remains Historic—and Delightful (Vanity Fair)
Stephen Hawking leaves behind ‘breathtaking’ final multiverse theory (The Daily Telegraph)

Chatbots

What can your Assistant do? (Google)
Google Assistant chatbots (Google)
Alexa bots (Amazon)
Cyber Argument chatbot script app for fights between Alexa and Google Assistant (Google)
See Bots Chat (YouTube)

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Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 266: Brought to You By the Letters “P” and “S”

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

A preview peep of the new Android P operating system has arrived for developers and Microsoft is adding an “S” mode to the next version of Windows 10. El Kaiser and J.D. also discuss other letters in the news this week, including SEC and OMG, as in “OMG, why is the Amazon Alexa laughing by itself???” You can hear all this and more (including a discussion of software vs. treeware for news consumption) on this week’s episode of Pop Tech Jam!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Episode

Previewing Android P (Android Developers Blog)
Android P Features and APIs (Android Developers Blog)
Android P DP1: New nav bar button enables app rotation even w/ auto-rotate disabled (9to5Google)
Windows 10 in S Mode coming soon to all editions of Windows 10 (Windows Experience Blog)
AI Platform for Windows Developers (Windows Developer Blog)
Researchers Bypassed Windows Password Locks With Cortana Voice Commands (Motherboard)
Snap is laying off about 100 engineers (CNBC)
Statement on Potentially Unlawful Online Platforms for Trading Digital Assets (SEC.gov)
Amazon launches a low-cost version of Prime for Medicaid recipients (TechCrunch)
Amazon Alexa devices are creepily laughing at their owners for no reason (Consequence of Sound)

Consuming News

For Two Months, I Got My News From Print Newspapers. Here’s What I Learned. (The New York Times)
The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption by Clay Johnson (O’Reilly Media)

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Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 265: Just Over the Ridge

March 5, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer 2 Comments

Congratulations to the sound team on Dunkirk for the Oscars — we here at Pop Tech Jam had a feeling you were going to win!

But now that we know who won the 2018 Academy Awards, life is still full of burning questions: Who am I? What is my place in the universe? Why do the Klingons on Star Trek: Discovery look so different from the Klingons in the rest of the canonical series? This week, El Kaiser and J.D. discuss The Klingon Question after tackling the technology news of the moment. naDev ‘oH Qap!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Episode