Tag Archives: Amazon

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)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 287: Say “Hey,” Kids

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

If it’s September, Apple has a new iPhone to sell you. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss this year’s crop of gear, along with news from FitBit, Amazon and GoPro. And, as election season looms closer, J.D. has some advice and links for those who see misinformation on social-media sites and want to stop it from spreading. Buckle up for Episode 287, y’all!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’ s Show

The iPhone XS and XS Max Review: Big Screens That Are a Delight to Use (The New York Times)
Apple Watch Series 4 Review: A Big Step for Wearable Gadgets (The New York Times)
Fitbit Launches Fitbit Care, A Powerful New Enterprise Health Platform for Wellness and Prevention and Disease Management (FitBit Investor News)
Another Victim of the Magecart Assault Emerges: Newegg (RiskIQ)
Expanding Emergency Location Service in Android to the U.S. (Google Keyword blog)
Code in iOS 12.1 beta hints at Memoji syncing over iCloud, references ‘iPad2018Fall’ (AppleInsider)
Chrome Releases: Stable Channel Update for Chrome OS (Google blog)
Twitter Lets Users Switch to a Chronological Feed (Search Engine Journal)
The 14 biggest announcements from Amazon’s surprise hardware event (The Verge)
Amazon Said to Plan Up to 3,000 Cashierless Stores by 2021 (Bloomberg)
GoPro’s Hero 7 Black sets a new bar for video stabilization (The Verge)
Official YouTube Blog: Gaming gets a new home on YouTube (YouTube blog)
Introducing PlayStation Classic, with 20 Pre-Loaded Games (PlayStation.Blog)

Help Stomp Out Fake News

How do I mark a post as false news? (Facebook Help)
Report violations (Twitter)
Report inappropriate content (YouTube)
Statistics & Facts about Fake News (Statista)
Inside Facebook’s Election ‘War Room’ (The New York Times)
If You See Disinformation Ahead of the Midterms, We Want to Hear From You (The New York Times)
Facebook’s attempts to fight fake news seem to be working. (Twitter’s? Not so much.) (Nieman Lab)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 286: Antisocial Media

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

Hot times were had on Capitol Hill at the Senate and House hearings with leaders of Facebook and Twitter — but not with Google, which declined the invitation to come testify about such things as election influencing and political bias on its platform. El Kaiser and J.D. also discuss Apple’s new global portal for law enforcement pros, Amazon’s new tablet and a new study from the Pew Internet Research Center about how people’s feelings have changed about a certain Social Network over the past year. This week’s show also includes a highlight tour of some of the more popular features in Google’s Android 9.0 (Pie) system and Apple’s iOS 12. Jump into Episode 286 now!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Episode

Twitter: Transparency and Accountability (House Energy and Commerce Committee)
Senate Intelligence Committee: Foreign Influence and Social Media (C-SPAN)
Facebook and Twitter Have a Message for Lawmakers: We’re Trying. (The New York Times)
Facebook and Twitter testify before Congress. Alex Jones lurks behind. (The Washington Post)
Twitter bans Alex Jones and InfoWars (CNN)
Twitter’s shadow banning bug ‘unfairly filtered’ 600,000 accounts (Engadget)
Justice Dept. says social media giants may be ‘intentionally stifling’ free speech (TechCrunch)
Twitter is testing a major redesign of its desktop website (ThisIsInsider)
Google’s Empty Chair at Senate Marks Unforced Error in D.C. (Bloomberg)
Google sets October 9th for the Pixel 3 unveiling (Ars Technica)
Making it easier to discover datasets (Google Keyword blog)
Latest information| Data Theft (British Airways)
Apple to Launch a Global Law Enforcement Web Portal to Streamline Data Requests by End of 2018 [Updated] (Mac Rumors)
Meet Nico and Veronica (Snap Inc.)
Amazon Fire HD 8 Tablet (Amazon Press Room)
Bernie Sanders introduces the BEZOS Act slamming Amazon low wages (CNBC)
Many US Facebook users have changed privacy settings or taken a break (Pew Research Center)

New Mobile Operating Systems

iOS 12 Preview (Apple)
Apple iOS 12: the biggest new features coming to the iPhone (TheVerge)
Android Pie (Google)
What You Need to Know About Android 9 Pie (Techlicious)

(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)

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!