Tag Archives: contact tracing

PTJ 337: Pod People

May 23, 2020 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Are podcasts The Next Big Thing — again? With Spotify, Amazon and Apple all scrapping to get big names and fresh content while throwing around big money, it sure seems like something’s going on. After El Kaiser and J.D. roll through the rest of the week’s headlines, El Kaiser also offers a few suggestions for remote podcasting software. It’s all right here in PTJ 337 from the comfort of your own home!

Links to News Stories on This Week’s Show

“She-Ra and the Princesses of Power” (DreamWorks)
“She-Ra and the Princesses of Power”(Watch on Netflix)
Privacy-Preserving Contact Tracing (Apple-Google)
Apple and Google launch coronavirus exposure software (The Washington Post)
Mark Zuckerberg: Half of Facebook may work remotely by 2030 (NBC News)
Facebook to Limit Offices to 25% Capacity, Require Masks at Work (Bloomberg)
Preventing Unwanted Contacts and Scams in Messenger (Messenger News)
Twitter is testing a feature that limits who can reply to your tweets (TechCrunch)
Accessibility updates that help tech work for everyone (Google Keyword blog)
Amazon pushes Prime Day to September as it returns to normalcy: WSJ (Reuters)
The podcasting world is now Spotify versus everybody else (The Verge)
Amazon’s Audible Goes Beyond Books to Chase Spotify in Podcasts (Bloomberg)
Apple Ramps Up Original Podcasts, in Part to Help Promote TV+ (Bloomberg)
Chrome 83 arrives with redesigned security settings, third-party cookies blocked in Incognito (VentureBeat)
Protecting against resource-heavy ads in Chrome (Chromium blog)
Apple Buys Older Shows for TV+, Stepping Up Netflix Challenge (Bloomberg)
Helping members who haven’t been watching cancel (Netflix)

VoIP Podcasting Apps

Episode Links

PTJ 335: Going Batty

May 8, 2020 J.D. Biersdorfer 2 Comments

Comic-book worlds (and their heroes) are great for passing the time or taking your mind to new places when you’re stuck inside — and this week’s episode offers insights on the Batwoman TV show as well as making your own comics (even if drawing isn’t your strong point). El Kaiser and J.D. also discuss news from the video-game world and other headlines from around the technosphere. Spin up PTJ 335 right here!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Episode

Batwoman (The CW)
Nintendo smashes Switch sales view; says Animal Crossing is device’s fastest-selling game (Reuters)
Fortnite is now one of the biggest games ever with 350 million players (The Verge)
Twitch Is Developing Talk Shows and Dating Programs for Gamers (Bloomberg)
Microsoft reveals Xbox Series X boot screen, confirms July event for Halo Infinite and more (The Verge)
Opinion | We Are a New Board at Facebook. Here’s What We’ll Decide. (The New York Times)
Apple awards $10 million from Advanced Manufacturing Fund to COPAN Diagnostics (Apple)
Apple WWDC 2020 announced for June 22, but will be digital only (CNBC)
UK finds itself almost alone with centralized virus contact-tracing app that probably won’t work well, asks for your location, may be illegal (The Register)
Airbnb is laying off a quarter of its staff (Vox)
Parking Lots Have Become a Digital Lifeline (The New York Times)
Twitter rolls out changes to threaded conversations following tests in its prototype app, twttr (TechCrunch)
Twitter tests a warning message that tells users to rethink offensive replies (The Verge)

Do-It-Yourself Comics

Create Your Own Digital Comics Whether You Can Draw or Not (The New York Times)
Classroom-Friendly Websites and Apps for Making Comics (Common Sense Media)
ComicBook! (iOS)
Comic Strip Pro (Android)
MediBang Paint
Comic Draw for iPad
Procreate for iPad
Comics Pages templates (Printable Paper)
Can You Draw This? Of Course You Can. (The New York Times)

Episode Links

PTJ 334: Grand Central Tracin’

April 29, 2020 J.D. Biersdorfer 2 Comments

Contact tracing! It’s all the rage around the world as countries try to track the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus though voluntary smartphone apps. In this week’s news segment, El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the various approaches these apps take before moving on to other headlines around the tech world. El Kaiser also shares his adventures with cloning a hard drive. All this and more on PTJ 334!

Links to News and Stuff Discussed on This Week’s Show

Avenue 5 (HBO)
Apple and Google release first seed of COVID-19 exposure notification API for contact tracing app developers (TechCrunch)
NHS rejects Apple-Google coronavirus app plan (BBC News)
Two Million Australians Download Coronavirus Contact-Tracing App (Bloomberg)
Germany flips to Apple-Google approach on smartphone contact tracing (Reuters)
Coronavirus: Why are there doubts over contact-tracing apps? (BBC News)
Europe’s Privacy Law Hasn’t Shown Its Teeth, Frustrating Advocates (The New York Times)
‘iPhone 12’ likely to ship in the same timeframe that the iPhone X did (Apple Insider)
Microsoft Teams Vulnerability Exposed Organizations to Attacks (SecurityWeek.Com)
Verizon, AT&T, Comcast won’t cancel service through June due to coronavirus (Reuters)
Twitter turns off its original SMS service in most countries (The Verge)
Google Pixel Buds 2 review roundup: What critics love and hate (Tom’s Guide)
An ESPN Commercial Hints at Advertising’s Deepfake Future (The New York Times)
Warning Signs And Symptoms Of Hard Drive Failure (Prosoft Engineering)
How to Make a Bootable Clone of Your Mac’s Hard Drive (How-To Geek)
SuperDuper!
Carbon Copy Cloner

Episode Links

PTJ 332: Anti-Virus Software

April 13, 2020 J.D. Biersdorfer 2 Comments

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues its spread, Apple and Google join forces to create a platform to track the disease — even though privacy advocates have concerns. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the program, along with the other tech headlines of the week. And, with network connectivity more important than ever, El Kaiser offers some tips on getting the most out of your home Wi-Fi. It’s all here waiting for you in PTJ 332!

Links to News Stories Discussed on This Episode

Coronavirus Contact Tracing: Apple and Google Team Up to Enable Virus Tracking (The New York Times)
How Apple and Google are tackling one of the toughest parts about tracking COVID-19 exposures (The Verge)
Apple and Google detail bold and ambitious plan to track COVID-19 at scale (Ars Technica)
Coronavirus: UK confirms plan for its own contact tracing app (BBC News)
Britain’s NHS working with Google, Apple on app to track coronavirus contact: Sunday Times (Reuters)
Contact Tracing in the Real World (Light Blue Touchpaper)
ACLU White Paper: The Limits of Location Tracking in an Epidemic (American Civil Liberties Union)
Apple Maps will soon display COVID-19 testing locations (9to5Mac)
PayPal, Intuit QuickBooks approved for coronavirus small-business loan (CNBC)
Warehouse workers are forcing Amazon to take COVID-19 seriously (The Verge)
Robots Welcome to Take Over, as Pandemic Accelerates Automation (The New York Times)
Apple Plans IPad-Like Design for Next IPhone, Smaller HomePod (Bloomberg)
Screen time is nothing to feel guilty about during the coronavirus — for adults or kids (The Washington Post)

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!