Tag Archives: hackers

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

PTJ 355: The Empire Hacks Back

June 7, 2021 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

In this week’s episode of Pop Tech Jam, El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the headlines from the world of tech, including the U.S. government’s own Bitcoin grab as it claws back the Colonial Pipeline ransom. El Kaiser would like Batman to have at least one nice day and J.D. ambles through the major announcements from this year’s Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference. Just push play to hear it all on PTJ 355!

Batman: Rebirth (DC Comics)
Justice Dept. says it recovered most of the ransom paid after the Colonial Pipeline cyber attack. (The New York Times)
Colonial Pipeline Cyber Attack: Hackers Used Compromised Password (Bloomberg)
Apple employees push back against returning to the office in internal letter (The Verge)
G7: Rich nations back deal to tax multinationals (BBC News)
G7 tax deal: Amazon, Google and Facebook respond (CNBC)
Google fined by France for abusing online advertising position (CNBC)
Facebook’s Marketplace Faces Antitrust Probes in EU, U.K. (WSJ)
In Response to Oversight Board, Trump Suspended for Two Years; Will Only Be Reinstated if Conditions Permit (About Facebook)
Apple pays out millions in compensation to student after iPhone repair facility shared her explicit personal images online (9to5Mac)
Jeff Bezos is going to space on first crewed flight of rocket (CNN)
Apple WWDC 2021 Keynote
iOS 15 Highlights (Apple Newsroom)
macOS Monterey Preview (Apple Newsroom)
watchOS 8 Announcement (Apple Newsroom)
iPadOS 15 Features (Apple Newsroom)

Episode Links

PTJ 329: Root, Root, Root for the Home Team

March 22, 2020 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

As more states and cities tell citizens to stay out of public places and do their part to help stop the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, El Kaiser and J.D. fire up the microphones in their respective recording bunkers to discuss the latest tech news. El Kaiser also offers his pro tips for looking and sounding better on those office video-conference meetings, and J.D. has a few ideas for parents trying to keep the kids busy after they’ve finished their online lessons for the day. It’s all here on PTJ 329 — right in the comfort of your own home!

Links to Stories in This Week’s Episode

Google’s coronavirus website finally launches alongside enhanced search results (The Verge)
Google’s COVID-19 information page
Delivering information and eliminating bottlenecks with CDC’s COVID-19 assessment bot (The Official Microsoft Blog)
Apple updated Siri to help people who ask if they have coronavirus (CNBC)
Internal memo: Jeff Bezos tells Amazon employees he’s ‘wholly focused’ on the COVID-19 crisis (GeekWire)
A message from our CEO and founder (Amazon)
Netflix to Cut Streaming Video Bit Rates in Europe for 30 Days (Variety)
Mass move to work from home in coronavirus crisis creates opening for hackers: cyber experts (Reuters)
How Zoom Became King of the Quarantine Economy (Adweek)
‘Zoombombing’: When Video Conferences Go Wrong (The New York Times)
Emergency Support for Workers in the Creative Community (Netflix)
Exclusive: Amazon raises overtime pay for warehouse workers (Reuters)
New MacBook Air has more to love and is now just $999 (Apple)
Apple unveils new iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support in iPadOS (Apple)
Believe it: Orchestra plays Beethoven 9th from their homes (Slipped Disc)
Must Watch: Toronto vs Rotterdam in The Home-Play Finals (Slipped Disc)

#StayHome Projects to Keep You (or the Kids) Busy

Make Your Own Animated Movies, Frame by Frame (The New York Times)
How to Add Hollywood Special Effects to Your Videos (The New York Times)
How to Take Music Lessons Whenever (and Wherever) Works for You (The New York Times)
How to Rescue, Repair and Revive Old Family Photos (The New York Times)
Can You Draw This? Of Course You Can! (The New York Times)
From Camera Roll to Canvas: Make Art From Your Photos (The New York Times)
Get Those Records, Tapes and CDs Onto Your Smartphone (The New York Times)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 284: Rock the Vote

August 26, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Election security — or lack thereof — dominated the headlines this week as social-media platforms moved to boot trolls and industry leaders met to discuss what to do with the U.S.midterms looming. Meanwhile, Walmart and Kobo teamed up on ebooks, rumors about Apple’s fall event popped up right on time, Samsung released its Galaxy Note9 and Google is trying to find regular doses of good news out there. All this and more on Episode 284!

Links to Stories Discussed in This Week’s Show

Hackers Attempt a Repeat Performance at the D.N.C. (Vanity Fair)
Hack attempt on DNC voter database was a false alarm, the national committee says (The Washington Post)
Facebook Identifies New Influence Operations Spanning Globe (The New York Times)
Taking Down More Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior (Facebook Newsroom)
An update on state-sponsored activity (Google Keyword blog)
Tech Companies Are Gathering For A Secret Meeting To Prepare A 2018 Election Strategy (BuzzFeed)
It’s Too Late to Protect the 2018 Elections. But Here’s How the U.S. Can Prepare for 2020. (Lawfare)
A Note From Twitter Security
Jack Dorsey On Deleting Tweets, Banning Trump, And Whether An Unbiased Twitter Can Exist (BuzzFeed)
Tiny Doylestown Borough battled Verizon over 5G and won a big settlement (Philly.com)
Here’s a first look at Facebook’s “Aloha” voice assistant that might power its smart speaker (BGR)
Walmart and Kobo Launch Walmart eBooks, Including an Audiobook Subscription for $9.99 (Walmart News)
Investigation Finds It’s Hard to Turn Off Google Location Tracking (eWeek)
A Lawsuit Over Google’s Sneaky Location Tracking Could Be a Game-Changer (Gizmodo)
The Right to not be Tracked: a Spotlight on Google Maps and Android Location Tracking (Rise Lab / UC Berkeley
Manage or delete your Location History (Google Account Help)
Yup, we know exactly when Apple’s 2018 iPhones will be released (BGR)
Samsung’s Galaxy Note9: Too Much Phone for Most of Us (The New York Times)
Samsung Galaxy Note S9
Nikon mirrorless Z7 and Z6 full-frame cameras launch (BBC News)
Xbox All Access: Xbox Live Gold, Game Pass, and consoles to be bundled in new plans (On MSFT)
Hey Google, tell me something good (Google Keyword blog)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

When Troubleshooters Run Into Trouble (The New York Times)
Decoding Windows Error Messages (The New York Times)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 280: Purge Surge

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

Several companies have now stepped up the fight against fake news — most noticeably, Twitter, as the service finally began to delete fake accounts and return follower totals back to the realm of real people. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the efforts, as well as the state of streaming television, Apple’s latest updates and the things one can find for sale on the Dark Net. In a (Hopefully) Helpful Hint, J.D. has some tips for how to stay charged up when traveling. All aboard Episode 280!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Show

Confidence in follower counts (Twitter blog)
WhatsApp launches a feature that labels forwarded messages (Poynter)
YouTube to fight fake news with links to real news and context (Ars Technica)
YouTube TV Service Suffers Outage in Middle of England-Croatia World Cup Semifinal (Variety)
How to Watch the First Funded News Shows on Facebook Watch (Facebook Newsroom)
Findings, recommendations and actions from ICO investigation into data analytics in political campaigns (UK Information Commissioner’s Office)
Live TV Streaming Service Philo Raises $40 Million in Funding (The Wrap)
European Networks Are Joining Forces to Take On Netflix and Amazon (Hollywood Reporter)
Helping creators protect their content (YouTube Creators Blog)
Downloading on Netflix Just Got Smarter (Netflix blog)
FCC Set to Propose Easing of Children’s Television Rules (Variety)
3D-printed guns: Settlement paves way for DIY weapons (San Jose Mercury News)
Hacker Found Selling US Military Document on the Dark Web (Silicon Angle)
Apple updates MacBook Pro with faster performance and new features for pros (Apple Newsroom)
New Apple products expected this fall include iPhones, iPads, Macs, AirPods, Apple Watches (Business Insider)
It looks like a Google partner might’ve just leaked Android P’s real name (BGR)
“Google Was Not a Normal Place”: Brin, Page, and Mayer on the Accidental Birth of the Company that Changed Everything (Vanity Fair)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint: Power to Go

Emergency Charging Options on the Road (The New York Times)
The Risk in Using a Public Phone Charger (The New York Times)
How to Pack and Prepare Your Smartphone for Traveling This Summer (The New York Times)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 274: Golden State

June 6, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Even without the NBA finals in the mix, it’s been a busy time out in California with a fierce net-neutrality bill passing a hurdle in the state senate and Mary Meeker’s mega-slideshow on Internet trends. El Kaiser and J.D. surf through the week’s tech news before stopping to ponder life without Twitter — if only just for a little while. Punch up Episode 274 and have a listen!

California Senate defies AT&T, votes for strict net neutrality rules (Ars Technica)
Microsoft leapfrogs Google’s Alphabet, while becoming the 3rd best tech company to-date (On MSFT)
Bring the Stadium Experience Home: Oculus Venues Now Available on Oculus Go and Gear VR (Oculus)
Google Will Try to Tackle Latest iPhones With Pixel Phone Upgrades (Bloomberg)
Former Snap Employee Questions Company’s Culture and Diversity (Cheddar)
Mobile Direct Traffic Eclipses Facebook (Chartbeat Blog)
HIDDEN COBRA – Joanap Backdoor Trojan and Brambul Server Message Block Worm (US-CERT)
International Hacker-For-Hire Who Conspired With and Aided Russian FSB Officers Sentenced to 60 Months in Prison (OPA | Department of Justice)
Foreign Cyber Actors Target Home And Office Routers And Networked Devices Worldwide (Federal Bureau of Investigation)
FBI Urges Internet Users to Reboot Home Routers (NBC New York)
Court upholds federal Kaspersky ban, dismisses lawsuits (Fedscoop)
Facebook to be banned in Papua New Guinea for a month (BBC News)
Shutting down Facebook in PNG is a reality (Post Courier)
Mary Meeker’s 2018 internet trends report: All the slides, plus analysis (Recode)

Downshifting Twitter

How to Defeat a Twitter Addiction (WikiHow)
How to deactivate your account (Twitter Help)
Clean Out a Crowded Twitter Feed With ManageFlitter (Lifehacker)
“I quit social media for a month — and it was the best choice I’ve ever made” (Business Insider)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 262: Waiting In the Sky

February 12, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

The Space Race is back on — and Elon Musk’s own cherry-red Tesla Roadster is the pace car of the 21st century, having been shot into orbit around the sun by its owner. This week, El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the SpaceX test flight of the Falcon Heavy rocket on February 6th, 2018; check out the video below if you missed the Roadster-flinging launch. Elsewhere in the show, El Kaiser shares his opinion about the idea of R-rated a Star Wars movie and J.D. offers tips on how to find online streaming videos with overdubbed audio descriptions for the blind and those with limited vision. For all this — plus a roundup of the week’s tech news — just blast off Episode 262!

Links to Stories on This Week’s Show

Falcon Heavy, in a Roar of Thunder, Carries SpaceX’s Ambition Into Orbit (The New York Times)
Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster and Starman Leave Earth Forever in This Final Photo (Space.com)
‘Consumer Reports’: Samsung, Roku Smart TVs may be vulnerable to hackers (USA Today)
YouTube’s Recommendation Algorithm Favors Conspiracy Videos (New York magazine)
Thirty-six Defendants Indicted for Alleged Roles in Transnational Criminal Organization Responsible for More than $530 Million in Losses from Cybercrimes (United States Department of Justice)
Instagram tests resharing of others’ posts to your Story (TechCrunch)
Snap shares surge after app redesign sparks user growth (Reuters)
Cortana for iOS comes to iPad with native design (Windows Central)
Apple says iPhone 8 and X have ‘hardware updates’ that address battery issues (The Verge)
Google developing a game streaming service codenamed ‘Yeti’ with console hardware (9to5Google)
Google Online Security Blog: Vulnerability Reward Program: 2017 Year in Review (Google Security blog)
John Perry Barlow, Internet Pioneer, 1947-2018 (Electronic Frontier Foundation)

Technology + Accessibility

Finding Videos With Audio Descriptions (The New York Times)
The Audio Description Project: Streaming Video (American Council for the Blind)
Microsoft accessibility
Make Your PC Easier to Use (Microsoft)
Accessibility at Apple
Use Accessibility features on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch (Apple)
Accessibility Features on the Mac (Apple)
Google Accessibility
Android Accessibility Help (Google)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 257: Lucha Libre

January 5, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

The new year is here and so far, 2018 is already throwing its five moves of doom around the ring: Massive security flaws in the world’s computer processors, a giant lawsuit against Spotify, the government’s white-hat hacker shortage, YouTube drama and all kinds of bad behavior on Twitter. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss it all here in Episode 257 of Pop Tech Jam, so just push Play for the main event!

Links to Stories Discussed in This Week’s Episode

Researchers Discover Two Major Flaws in the World’s Computers (The New York Times)
What You Need to Do Because of Flaws in Computer Chips (The New York Times)
Today’s CPU vulnerability: what you need to know (Google Security blog)
Meltdown and Spectre (Graz University of Technology)
Fight for the Future: Vote for Net Neutrality
Apple will replace old iPhone batteries, regardless of diagnostic test results (The Verge)
Spotify Hit With $1.6 Billion Copyright Lawsuit Over Tom Petty, Weezer, Neil Young Songs (Hollywood Reporter)
Alphabet’s Google explores sale of restaurant reviewer Zagat (Reuters)
The Logan Paul Suicide Video Shows YouTube Is Facing A Crucial Turning Point (BuzzFeed)
NSA’s top talent is leaving because of low pay, slumping morale and unpopular reorganization (The Washington Post)
Woman receives bionic hand with sense of touch (BBC News)

Avoid the Twitter Litter

Twitter Rules and policies (Twitter)
Would Twitter Ever Suspend Trump’s Account? (The New York Times)
Messages Are Projected On Twitter HQ After Trump’s North Korea Tweets (Huffington Post)
Adjusting Twitter’s Sensitivities (The New York Times)
How to control your Twitter experience (Twitter Help)
How to mute accounts on Twitter (Twitter Help)
How to use advanced muting options (Twitter Help)
How to block accounts on Twitter (Twitter Help)
How to use advanced block options (Twitter Help)
Twitter media policy (Twitter)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint, Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 248: Knock, Knock

September 23, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer 2 Comments

Who’s there? It’s this week’s episode of Pop Tech Jam, with ideas for coping with the current state of the world. From SEC hackers to Nest’s new indoor/outdoor security system to Equifax still doing harm to its customers, it’s been a busy seven days. But hey, NASA has a free illustrated ebook on the recent Cassini mission you can download, so the week wasn’t all bad and El Kaiser offers up a review of two audio amplifiers to make your tunes sound better through your headphones when you’re on the go. In light of Mother Nature’s recent activities, J.D. shares a few lists of places you can send money to help earthquake and hurricane disaster recovery efforts in Mexico, Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the other Caribbean islands.
PTJ 248 is here to help!

Links to Stories on This Week’s Episode

Google and HTC Announce US$1.1 Billion Cooperation Agreement (HTC)
Google Is Buying HTC’s Smartphone Expertise for $1.1 Billion (The New York Times)
Statement on Cybersecurity (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission)
SEC says hackers may have traded using stolen insider information (Reuters)
Apple TV 4K review: so close, so far (The Verge)
Nest Expands into Home Security with First Security System Designed to Be Easy on Residents, Tough on Intruders (Nest blog)
Facebook will strengthen enforcement of ad targeting policies, add more human oversight, and urge users to report potential abuses directly (Sheryl Sandberg on Facebook)
Fake website fools Equifax staff (BBC)
The Better Together Update is here! (Minecraft.com)
The Saturn System Through the Eyes of Cassini (NASA)

iPhone Audio Amps

(Hopefully) Helpfully Hint: How to Effectively Donate to Disaster Relief Funds

Where you can donate to help with hurricane and earthquake relief and recovery (Vox.com)
Places to donate to Mexico/Puerto Rico relief (Full Frontal with Samantha Bee)
How to Help Victims of Hurricane Maria (The New York Times)
Charity Navigator

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 243: Sound and Fury

August 2, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

After a discussion about the stirring audio mix used to back the film Dunkirk, El Kaiser and J.D. make a lot of noise about this week’s technology news — including new government regulation around the world. However, if it all gets to be too much, perhaps a nice friendly drone will deliver a tureen of soup right to your door. Settle in and listen away to Episode 243!

Links to Stories Mentioned on This Week’s Show

iPhone 8 infrared face detection and general device design revealed in HomePod firmware (MacRumors)
Microsoft targets Google and Apple in schools with ‘Surface Plus’ hardware subscription program (GeekWire)
Microsoft sunsets if Word Flow keyboard for iOS, encourages users to try Swiftkey (OnMSFT)
Gboard for iPhone adds drawing, Maps and YouTube (Google blog)
Google Image Search gets more like Pinterest by connecting you to recipes, products and more (TechCrunch)
Putin signs controversial law tightening Internet restrictions (Radio Free Europe)
Apple removes VPN apps from the App Store in China (TechCrunch)
The chiefs of Facebook, Google and other tech giants aren’t committing to testify to the U.S. Congress on net neutrality (Recode)
U.S. senators to introduce bill to secure ‘internet of things’ (Reuters)
EPIC files FTC complaint to stop Google from tracking in-store purchases (Electronic Privacy Information Center)
Spotify crosses 60M paid subscribers as it prepares to go public later this year (9to5Mac)
Facebook is working on a video chat device (Bloomberg)
Linden Lab launches open beta for social VR platform Sansar (VentureBeat)
Hackers threaten ‘Game of Thrones,’ as HBO confirms cyberattack (The New York Times)
The flying kettle (European Space Agency)

Film Audio Discussion

Ticking Watch. Boat Engine. Slowness. The Secrets of the ‘Dunkirk’ Score. (The New York Times)
The sound illusion that makes Dunkirk so intense (Vox)
The New York Philharmonic: The Star Wars Film Concert Series

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!