Tag Archives: cryptocurrency

PTJ 363: Bye, ’Pod

March 4, 2022 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

On this episode, El Kaiser and J.D. catch up after an unintentional hiatus to discuss current events — including Elon Musk’s fluctuating deal to buy Twitter, the rapid demise of CNN+ and Apple’s decision to retire the iPod after 21 years. Spin up PTJ 363 right here!

Hackers R eplac e Russian TV Schedules During ‘Victory Day’ With Anti-War Messages (InfoSecurity)
Anon ym ous Hacks 2 Russian Industrial Firms, Leak 112GB of Data for Ukraine (HackRead)
Why BBC Revived Shortwave Radio Dispatches in Ukraine (The New York Times)
BBC News la unches ‘dark web’ Tor mirror (BBC News)
Inside the Implosion of CNN+ (The New York Times)
Elon Musk says he might try to renegotiate $44B Twitter deal for less (The Washington Post)
Twitter CEO fires back at Elon Musk, who responds with poop emoji (MarketWatch)
Apple’s iPod Announcement
Farewell to the iPod (The New York Times)
Apple to discontinue the iPod after 21 years (BBC News)
The iPod is dead (TechCrunch)
Apple Together Brings Corporate Workers Into the Union Effort (WIRED)
Netflix Exploring Live Streaming For First Time; Unscripted & Comedy (Deadline)
The Week in Business: Crypto’s ‘Death Spiral’ (The New York Times)
Cryptocurrencies Melt Down in a ‘Perfect Storm’ of Fear and Panic (The New York Times)
Crypto crash: Stablecoin collapse sends tokens tumbling (BBC News)
E.U. Takes Aim at Social Media’s Harms With Landmark New Law (The New York Times)
The Digital Services Act package (European Commission)
Uber Eats Dabbles With Delivering Food Via Robots (Gizmodo)
Royal Mail wants fleet of 500 drones to carry mail to remote UK communities (BBC News)

‘The Batman’ Review: Robert Pattinson Goes Darker Than ‘Dark Knight’ (Variety)
The Book of Boba Fett (Disney+)

Set Your Schedule in Your Smartphone’s Free Calendar (The New York Times)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 362: New Galaxies

February 15, 2022 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Samsung has kicked off the year in new phone hardware with updates to its Galaxy line — including a $1200 Ultra model that comes with five cameras, a stylus and a 6.8-inch screen. El Kaiser and JD ponder the possibilities, along in a roundup of other tech headlines and a preview of this year’s new crop of emoji (disco ball!) coming to iOS and Android. El Kaiser also continues his exploration of Marvel and DC Comics adaptations for the big and small screens. All this and more on PTJ 362!

Crypto apps soar in popularity after Super Bowl splurge (The Block)
Microsoft announces new app store principles, aligning with Open App Ma rkets Act (The Washington Post)
Open App Markets Act (Congress.gov)
Tinder to Eliminate Age-Based Pricing for Premium Features (PCMag)
New s From Tinder Newsroom
Making ‘Dinobabies’ Extinct: IBM’s Push for a Younger Work Force (The New York Times)
Everything you need to know from Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked 2022 event (The Verge)
Apple unveils contactless payments via Tap to Pay on iPhone (Apple)
Apple debuts Tap to Pay feature for iPhone, here are the details (9to5Mac)
Apple’s ‘realityOS’ for Rumored AR/VR Headset Referenced in Source Code (MacRumors)
Peloton co-founder steps down after rough ride (AP News)
Amazon and Nike exploring Peloton takeover, reports say (BBC News)
For the first time in its history, Facebook is in decline. Has the tech giant begun to crumble? (The Guardian)
Meta SEC Form 10-K 2021
Meta says it may shut down Facebook and Instagram in Europe (CNBC)
We’re Fine Without Facebook, German and French Ministers Say (Bloomberg)
See All 37 New Emojis Coming to Your Phone in Apple’s iOS 15.4 Update (Business Insider)
Emoji Version 14.0 (Emojipedia)
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+)
Obi-Wan Kenobi (Disney+ Originals)
Peacemaker (HBO Originals)
DC Comics TV
Marvel Cinematic Universe
Martin Scorsese: I Said Marvel Movies Aren’t Cinema. Let Me Explain. (The New York Times)
Martin Scorsese’s fight against Marvel isn’t really about Marvel movies (Vox)
Tom Holland hits back at Martin Scorsese’s comments that Marvel films aren’t “cinema” (NME)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 361: Webb Slingers

January 24, 2022 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

As 2022 spins up, El Kaiser and J.D. check in on NASA’s big new fancy space telescope and other recent tech headlines. This week’s episode also features some thoughts on The Expanse and tips for adjusting your privacy settings in Android 12 and iOS 15. You can find it all here on PTJ 361!

“Spider-Man: No Way Home”: All the Box Office Records Broken (The Hollywood Reporter)
“The Book of Boba Fett” (StarWars.com)
“Book Of Boba Fett:” Every Star Wars Easter Egg & Reference In Episode 1 (ScreenRant)
“Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett” Episode 1 Easter Eggs Explained (Den of Geek)
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope mission: Live updates (Space.com)
Where Is Webb? (NASA)
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) on YouTube
Why the James Webb Space Telescope looks like that (Vox)

James Webb Telescope Arrives at Its Destination (The New York Times)
$130 billion wiped off crypto markets in 24 hours as bitcoin, ether drop to multi-month lows (CNBC)
D igital Services Act: regulat ing platforms for a safer online space for users (News | European Parliament)
MEPs adopt Digital Services Act with significant last-minute changes (EURACTIV.com)
How the U.S. Messed Up Its New 5G Rollout: ‘It Wasn’t Our Finest Hour’ (The Wall Street Journal)
Why Airlines Are Worried About 5G (The New York Times)
Apple Nears First Product Launch of 2022, With 5G iPhone SE and New iPad on Tap (Bloomberg)
CES 2022 News (The Verge)
Augmented Reality Theater Takes a Bow. In Your Kitchen. (The New York Times)
Robot vacuum cleaner escapes from Cambridge Travelodg e (BBC News)

PSA: You’ll miss 25 minutes of The Expanse’s final season if you don’t pause it (The Verge)
The story of the fight to archive the internet (TechRadar)
Internet Archive 25th Anniversary (Internet Archive)
The Internet Archive
How to Use Your Phone’s Privacy-Protection Tools (The New York Times)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 360: All Hailing Frequencies Open

December 11, 2021 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

El Kaiser and J.D. are back with a new episode and the opportunity to praise the work of Nichelle Nichols, the trailblazing actress who portrayed Lt. Uhura on the original Star Trek as she retires from public life. Also in the mix: a discussion of recent headlines, including Big Tech’s increasingly warm seat in front of government regulators, and El Kaiser takes a listen to a new pair of Bowers & Wilkins Bluetooth headphones. All this and more on PTJ Episode 360 !

A New Tesla Safety Concern: Drivers Can Play Video Games in Moving Cars (The New York Times)
Instagram will bring back a chronological feed in 2022 (Engadget)
Instagram Chief Adam Mosseri Says Tech Companies Must Earn Liability Shield (Bloomberg)
What we learned at Congress’ much-anticipated summit of crypto execs (TheBlock)
House Hearing on Financial Innovation and Digital Currency (C-SPAN video)
Europe Pushes New Rules Turning Gig Workers Into Employees (The New York Times)
Epic v. Apple ruling put on hold after appeals court grants a stay (The Verge)
Kuo: Apple AR Headset to Feature Advanced Hand Gesture Controls and Object Detection (MacRumors)
Twitter Tests New, TikTok-Like Full-Screen Display for Explore (Social Media Today)
Roku, Google settle messy battle over YouTube distribution (Axios)
Verizon overrides users’ opt-out preferences in push to collect browsing history (Ars Technica)
Nichelle Nichols honored as she makes final Comic-Con appearance (TheGrio)
1977 NASA Recruitment film with Nichelle Nichols (YouTube)
Bowers & Wilkins PX7 Bluetooth headphones

Episode Links

PTJ 351: Going Places

March 30, 2021 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

After several weeks of unexpected hiatus, El Kaiser and JD return to catch up on the Justice League Snyder cut, NFTs, eco-friendly map directions, NASA’s Mars helicopter — and a whole bunch of Bluetooth headphones. Spin up Episode 351 right here!

Zack Snyder’s Justice League (HBO Max)
The Bloody Second Act of ‘Invincible’ and Robert Kirkman (The Ringer)
Redefining what a map can be with new information and AI (Google Keyword blog)
Google is making some big upgrades to directions in Google Maps (The Verge)
Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is back in its all-online format (Apple)
WWDC 2021 (Apple)
Contentious Union Vote at Amazon Heads to a Count (The New York Times)
There’s Something Fishy About Amazon’s Anti-Union Twitter Army (Gizmodo)
Boston Dynamics introduces ‘Stretch’, new warehouse worker robot (Reuters)
SolarWinds hack got emails of top DHS officials (Associated Press)
Exclusive: Visa moves to allow payment settlements using cryptocurrency (Reuters)
Exclusive: PayPal launches crypto checkout service (Reuters)
Buy This NFT Column on the Blockchain! (The New York Times)
Another SpaceX spaceship prototype explodes, joining Starship graveyard in Texas after ‘exciting’ test (Click Orlando)
NASA Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Prepares for First Flight (NASA)
Mars Helicopter tech demo (NASA)
Paris’s Louvre Museum just put its entire collection online (Time Out)

El Kaiser’s Headphone Mega-Roundup

Episode Links

PTJ 350: Red Rover

February 9, 2021 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

After a seven-month commute through space, NASA’s Perseverance rover is due to arrive on Mars next week! So, some science to go with our science-fiction television on this week’s episode, as El Kaiser shares his thoughts regarding later seasons of The Expanse on Amazon Prime and WandaVision on Disney+ . And J.D. has a smattering of tech news, including reports that Twitter is looking at subscription possibilities, along with resources on how to find out when you and your family can get the Covid-19 vaccine. It’s all here on PTJ 350!

“The Expanse” (Amazon Prime)
“WandaVision” (Marvel/Disney+)
Twitter Mulls Subscription Product, Tipping For Generating Revenue (Bloomberg)
TikTok may let creators use their own product links in videos (Engadget)
Clubhouse is now blocked in China after a brief uncensored period (TechCrunch)
Clubhouse Is the Anti-Twitter (OneZero)
Sheryl Sandberg Downplayed Facebook’s Role In The Capitol Hill Siege—Justice Department Files Tell A Very Different Story (Forbes)
Top Apps Worldwide for January 2021 by Downloads (Sensor Tower)
Activists complain of weakened voting security standard (Associated Press)
Tesla buys $1.5 billion in bitcoin, plans to accept it as payment (CNBC)
Countdown to Mars (NASA)

How you’ll find accurate and timely information on COVID-19 vaccines (Google blog)
VaccineFinder.org
COVID-19 Vaccine (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
See How the Vaccine Rollout Is Going in Your State (The New York Times)
State-by-State Guide to COVID Vaccine Information (WebMD)
New York State Novel Coronavirus/Covid-19 Information
Covid-19: Vaccines (NYC Department of Health)
NYC Covid-19 Vaccine Finder

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 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 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)

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)

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!