Tag Archives: Apple

PTJ 237: Days of Wonder

June 8, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference opened this week, bringing a ton of announcements and new-product demos to the faithful. Don Donofrio drops by to sort it all out with El Kaiser and JD. Meanwhile, governments fight with the Internet on multiple fronts and a certain Amazon Princess conquers the worldwide box office. All this and more on Episode 237!

Links to Stories in This Week’s Episode

Top-secret NSA report details Russian hacking effort days before 2016 election (The Intercept)
Contractor charged with the first leak under Trump (The New York Times)
London attack: Tech firms fight back in extremism row (BBC)
Uber fires more than 20 employees in harassment probe (Bloomberg)
Major web companies and public interest groups announce Internet-Wide Day of Action to Save Net Neutrality (Fight for the Future)
July 12th: Internet-wide day of action to save Net Neutrality (Battle for the Net)
IDC: Wearables grew 17.9% in Q1 2017, Xiaomi and Apple overtake Fitbit (VentureBeat)
SteamVR is coming to Mac—and Apple says it will actually work (Ars Technica)
(9to5Mac)
Microsoft leak reveals new Windows 10 Workstation edition for power users (The Verge)
Wonder Woman sets a record opening for a female-directed feature (BoxOfficeMojo.com)

Apple Stuff

Apple previews iOS 11
Apple introduced the new iPad Pro
Apple refreshes the iMac
Apple updates the MacBook and MacBook Pro
Apple gives a sneak peak at the new iMac Pro
Apple demos macOS High Sierra
Apple introduces HomePod
Apple announces watchOS 4
Apple revamps the App Store
Apple WWDC Keynote video
WWDC 2017 (MacRumors)

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PTJ 236: Corporate Spies

May 26, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

On this week’s show. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss Google and Twitter’s current wave of privacy-policy changes and data-sharing with advertisers (all taking place before Facebook’s latest flap). Also in the news this week: patent trolls, resolution motion-sensor camera, Russian hackers actually hacking Russians and Iris, the data-sniffing dog. Buffer up and have a listen to Episode 236 of Pop Tech Jam!

Links to Stories in This Week’s Episode

Revealed: Facebook’s internal rulebook on sex, terrorism and violence (The Guardian)
U.S. top court tightens patent suit rules in blow to ‘patent trolls’ (Reuters)
Apple and Nokia settle patent dispute with new licensing agreement (MacRumors)
Nokia and Apple sign patent license and business cooperation agreement, settle all litigation (Apple Newsroom)
Google now knows when its users go to the store and buy stuff (The Washington Post)
The most important announcements from Google I/O 2017! (Android Central)
Exclusive: Nest is working on a 4K camera with advanced smart features (Android Police)
Hackers hit Russian bank customers, planned international cyber raids (Reuters)
DISH Debuts Hands-Free TV on Hopper DVR with Amazon Alexa (About DISH)
Meet the new Surface Pro (Windows Blog)
Hackers defeat Samsung Galaxy S8 iris scanner (Security Week)
Meet Iris of the FBI’s canine force who has a nose for data (NBC News)
Building new data controls and updating our privacy policy (Twitter blog)
Twitter’s updated privacy policy, effective June 18^th, 2017 (Twitter)
How to opt out of Twitter’s new privacy settings (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
If you have a Twitter account, change these privacy settings now (CNET)

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PTJ 235: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

May 20, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Journalist Laura M. Holson is back in the house this week with a discussion of how the cosmetics superstore Sephora is using technology and social interaction to sell beauty products. On the opposite side beauty, though, is the ugly — and last week’s massive global ransomware outbreak even got into fugly territory. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the attack and the other notable news bits of recent days in this jam-packed episode of Pop Tech Jam.

Links to Stories Mentioned on This Week’s Show

In computer attacks, clues point to frequent culprit: North Korea (The New York Times)
Ransomware’s aftershocks feared as U.S. warns of complexity (The New York Times)
‘Accidental hero’ halts ransomware attack and warns: this is not over (The Guardian)
The WannaCry ransomware hackers made some real amateur mistakes (Wired)
The need for urgent collective action to keep people safe online: Lessons from last week’s cyberattack (Microsoft on the Issues)
HTC wants you to squeeze its new phone (The Verge)
Snap unveils new camera ads trying to stay ahead of Facebook (Bloomberg)
Instagram launches selfie filters, copying the last big Snapchat feature (TechCrunch)
Nintendo developing ‘The Legend of Zelda’ smartphone game (The Wall Street Journal)
Latest update brings new features to Google Home (AndroidHeadlines)
Apple plans laptop upgrades to take on Microsoft (Bloomberg)
The MP3 is officially dead, according to its creators (The Record : NPR)
Your MP3s are going to be just fine (The Washington Post)
How Sephora is thriving amid a retail crisis (The New York Times)

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PTJ 233: Tweet TV

May 5, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Twitter continues its experiments with live streaming video, Facebook is handing out coupons, there’s a new flavor of Windows 10 coming to town — and also maybe an Apple-branded talking Siri speaker on the way. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss it all on this week’s episode, while throwing a Tech Term and a (Hopefully) Helpful Hint into this week’s mix as well. Join us!

Links to Stories in This Week’s News Segment

New premium video content coming to Twitter (Twitter Blogs)
Twitter still thinks it’s a TV platform — and here are its dozen new shows (Recode)
Social media companies “shamefully far” from tackling illegal and dangerous content (UK Parliament)
Facebook Promoted Alex Hardiman to Lead Its News Products (Adweek)
‘Facebook Rewards’ QR codes dangle discounts for offline purchases (TechCrunch)
Presidential Executive Order on the Establishment of the American Technology Council (The White House)
Try out a fresh look for YouTube (YouTube blog)
Windows 10 S is Microsoft’s answer to Chrome OS (The Verge)
Intel patches remote code-execution bug that lurked in chips for 10 years (Ars Technica)
Major apps abandoning Apple Watch, including Google Maps, Amazon & eBay (Apple Insider)
Fitbit’s first post-Pebble smartwatch leaks with a mostly familiar design (9to5Google)
IAC to Buy Angie’s List in deal valued at over $500 million (Bloomberg)
Herrera repels legal challenge to short-term rental law, secures settlement with Airbnb and HomeAway (City Attorney of San Francisco)
Amid brick-and-mortar travails, a tipping point for Amazon in apparel (The New York Times)
Rumors emerge about Apple finalizing an Amazon Echo rival (Forbes)
Apple’s Siri-based smart speaker has ‘over 50% chance’ of debuting at WWDC in June (MacRumors)

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PTJ 232: Love and Rocket

April 26, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Love is all around as the unofficial 2017 Geek Summer Movie Season gets ready to roll next week with the arrival of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 in theaters ‚ with Wonder Woman, King Arthur, and another Spider-Man right behind. After a stomp through the week’s tech headlines (including the hunt to shoot down fake news and drones you can fly with your head) El Kaiser and J.D. discuss some of the most anticipated films on the way over the next few months.
Ooga-chaka-ooga-ooga!

Links to Stories in This Week’s News Segment

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales launches Wikitribune, a large-scale attempt to combat fake news (Nieman Lab)
Wikipedia founder to fight fake news with new Wikitribune site (The Guardian)
Our latest quality improvements for Search (Google blog)
Uber’s C.E.O. plays with fire (The New York Times)
Tim Cook reportedly threatened to pull Uber from App Store (CNet)
We can do better (Unroll.me)
HipChat security notice (HipChat blog)
YouTube restores ‘wrongly blocked’ LGBT videos (BBC News)
(YouTube Creators blog)
DJI’s new FPV goggles let you control your drone with head movements (TechCrunch)
Cassini completes final — and fateful — Titan flyby (NASA)
The power of LinkedIn’s 500 million member community (LinkedIn blog)
Popular antivirus program mistakenly IDs Windows as threat, creating chaos (NBC News)
Marissa Mayer will make $186 Million on Yahoo’s sale to Verizon (The New York Times)
Computer pioneer Harry Huskey dies aged 101 (BBC News)
30 must-see upcoming movies of 2017 (NerdMuch)

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PTJ 231: Veni, Vidi, Vendi

April 20, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Are we ready for the vending machines to silently judge us based on our snack habits? Some New Yorkers will find out soon as new models equipped with artificial intelligence are making their way to town. Meanwhile the disruptors are getting some disruption themselves, Facebook’s F8 conference brings new announcements, there’s a new Star Wars trailer out and El Kaiser and J.D. wonder if it’s time for iTunes to retire. Grab a bag of chips or your favorite meat-stick product and settle in for a listen here on Episode 231!

Links to Stories in This Week’s Show

Inside the hotel industry’s plan to combat Airbnb (The New York Times)
New York moves to require Uber to provide tipping option in its app (The New York Times)
Facebook Spaces: A new way to connect with friends in VR (Facebook)
The 4 most important things Facebook just announced (Time)
Manhunt in Cleveland after video of killing posted to Facebook (NBC News)
Community Standards and Reporting (Facebook Newsroom)
Netflix falls short on users without a ‘House of Cards’-size hit (Bloomberg)
Apple readies iPhone overhaul for smartphone’s 10th anniversary (Bloomberg)
Apple is having trouble getting the iPhone 8’s signature feature to actually work (BGR.com)
Comment: Rumored Apple TV account switching in tvOS 11 may suggest multi-users for iPad with iOS 11 (9to5Mac)
Samsung says Bixby voice assistant won’t ship with Galaxy S8 (Axios)
PayPal teams up with Android Pay for mobile payments (TechCrunch)
Steve Ballmer serves up a fascinating data trove (The New York Times)
Introducing new ways to organize your saved posts (Instagram blog)
Introducing New World Lenses (Snap blog)
Artificially intelligent vending machines are coming to NYC (Time Out New York)
Cassini at Saturn (NASA)
NASA finds evidence of hydrothermal vents on Saturn’s moon Enceladus (Popular Mechanics)
Star Wars: The Last Jedi Official Teaser (StarWars.com on YouTube)
We know who the ‘Last Jedi’ is and its scary but not surprising (Mashable)
Apple rebrands iTunes Podcasts as ‘Apple Podcasts’ (MacRumors)
iTunes needs to go (well, the name, anyway) (Macworld)
Loopy Cases

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PTJ 229: Private Investigations

April 8, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Protections for consumer privacy and data collection took a hit this past week, as regulations were rolled back into nonexistence — sending some concerned Netizens to software they hope will help shield their online activity. The big question: Does it work?

Meanwhile, Yahoo and AOL take an Oath, Samsung’s Galaxy S8 reveals some enviable features, Amazon finds yet another way to get your cash and Google tries to make sure perfectly nice advertisements don’t end up on hateful YouTube videos. Join El Kaiser and J.D. as they discuss it all in Episode 229!

Links to Stories in This Week’s Show

Amazon launches Amazon Cash, a way to shop its site without a bank card (TechCrunch)
Amazon Cash (Amazon)
5 Samsung Galaxy S8 features Apple should steal for iPhone 8 (Macworld)
Microsoft touts Microsoft-customized edition of Samsung Galaxy S8 (ZDNet)
Apple Mac Pro design was a bad bet, admits firm (BBC)
Facebook rocket: what is the new icon? (Wired UK)
Artificial intelligence is key to defeating future hackers (The Hill)
Google training ad placement computers to be offended (The New York Times)
Spotify Premium users will get some albums two weeks before free users (TechCrunch)
Verizon announces new name brand for AOL and Yahoo: Oath (The New York Times)
Marissa Mayer will not be part of the new AOL-Yahoo combined company called Oath (Recode)
FCC limits order on Charter extending broadband service (Reuters)
ACA pleased FCC eliminated broadband overbuild mandate in Charter-TWC-BHN merger order (American Cable Association)
New bill would crack down on border phone searches without warrants (The Verge)
The Protecting Data at the Border Act (United States Senate)
Trump signs bill to roll back privacy rules into law (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
Post-FCC privacy rules, should you VPN? (Krebs on Security)
Choosing the best VPN for you (thatoneprivacysite.net)
Is Tor Really Anonymous and Secure? (How-To Geek)
TOR browser (The TOR Project)
VPNs Won’t Save You from Congress’ Internet Privacy Giveaway (Wired)
Search Internet History

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PTJ 228: A.I., Ay Yi Yi

March 30, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

It’s not been a great week for the algorithms: Elon Musk downloaded a few concerned thoughts on the state of artificial intelligence to Vanity Fair, the F.B.I.’s facial recognition database has some glitches and Amazon’s shopper-tracking software gets confused when you put something back on the wrong shelf. But on the bright side, Hidden Figures, story about real human intelligence, arrived as a digital home-video download, so the week wasn’t all bad. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss it all — and a bunch of other tech news in between — on this week’s handcrafted episode of Pop Tech Jam.

Links to Stories in This Week’s News Segment

Introducing Live Location in Messenger (Facebook Newsroom)
More ways to share with the Facebook Camera (Facebook Newsroom)
Samsung to set the principles to recycle of returned Galaxy Note7 devices in an environmentally friendly way (Samsung Newsroom)
Facial recognition database used by FBI is out of control, House committee hears (Guardian)
Elon Musk takes on the “A.I. apocalypse” (Axios)
Elon Musk’s billion-dollar crusade to stop the A.I. apocalypse (Vanity Fair)
Elon Musk forming company dedicated to merging humans with machines (Consumerist)
Apple releases iOS 10.3 with Find My AirPods, Apple File System, CarPlay updates, more (9to5Mac)
Pages, Numbers, & Keynote for Mac and iOS add editing features & Touch ID for password protected docs (9to5Mac)
Download iOS 10.0 – iOS 10.3 information (Apple)
Security Update for the LastPass Extension (Last Pass blog)
Amazon’s store of the future is delayed. Insert ‘Told ya so’ from skeptical retail execs (Recode)
Amazon unveils 2 grocery pickup locations in Seattle (Seattle Times)
Expanding pre-roll ads to Periscope video (Twitter blog)
Comcast plans to launch low-cost broadband skinny TV bundles across U.S. footprint in Q3 (Variety)
“Rogue One” now available for digital download (StarWars.com)
“Hidden Figures” now available for digital download (Fox Digital)

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PTJ 227: Special Delivery

March 25, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

It seems like everybody’s got something on the way this week: Samsung’s new phone waits in the wings, Amazon’s Alexa is calling in for a six pack, robots are rolling out with restaurant orders and Apple even quietly slipped a few new products into the retail channel. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss it all — including that very special package sent down from the International Space Station.

Links to This Week’s News Stories

Bixby: A new way to interact with your phone (Samsung Mobile Press)
Galaxy S8 leaks: The 10 biggest leaks you missed over the weekend (BGR)
Alexa, order from Prime Now! (BusinessNews)
eBay to roll out guaranteed delivery for 20 million items (PR Newswire)
DoorDash will start delivering food via robots in California this Thursday (BuzzFeed News)
O-MG, the Developer Preview of Android O is here! (Android Developers Blog)
With Project Torino, Microsoft creates a physical programming language inclusive of visually impaired children (Microsoft blog)
Apple’s next big thing: Augmented reality (Bloomberg)
Apple introduces Clips: The fun, new way to create expressive videos on iOS (Apple)
New 9.7-inch iPad features stunning Retina display & incredible performance (Apple)
Apple introduces iPhone 7 & iPhone 7 Plus (PRODUCT)RED special edition (Apple)
US to ban laptops and tablets on flights from eight countries (BBC News)
Q&A: Aviation security enhancements for select last point of departure airports with commercial flights to the United States (Department of Homeland Security)
A simple command allows the CIA to commandeer 318 models of Cisco switches (Ars Technica)
Google Maps v9.49 beta adds a manual parking location tracker, weather indicator for mass transit navigation, and more (Android Police)
New: Save your live video to your phone (Instagram Blog)
CRS-10 Mission (SpaceX)
Researchers ready to collect science, tech samples returning to Earth (NASA)

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(Hopefully) Helpful Hint: Notification Nation

March 8, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

We’ve all gotten used to alerts popping up on our phones, telling us of Twitter replies, weather warnings, fresh mail, breaking news flashes and other important information to know while we’re on the go. If you miss having a consolidated set of notifications on your computer when you’re actually sitting at your desk, check out Apple’s Notifications Center panel for the Mac operating system and Microsoft’s Cortana assistant on Windows 10.

On either platform, you can customize and configure what you want to see when you pop open the info panel. On the Mac, click the icon in the top-right corner of the menu bar to pen the Notifications Center. Within the Notifications pane, you have two tabs: Today and Notifications. The Today tab shows you the date, time from world clocks you’ve added, news stories from favorite websites, Twitter trending topics, a stock ticker and other widgets you can add. Click the Notifications tab to see a collection of alerts you’ve received, Twitter mentions, your current iTunes track and more.

On a Windows 10 system, you can add information about the topics you want to see in Cortana in the Cortana Notebook. You can see your weather reports, track flights, check your calendar, get traffic updates, browse the latest news headlines and info on your favorite sports teams when you pop open Cortana.

Desktop notifications have another advantage: You’ve got more screen real estate and can multitask with other open programs and windows. Trying doing that on a 5.5-inch phone screen…

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!