Tag Archives: iPhone X

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint, Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 255: Boom or Bust?

December 10, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

The cryptocurrency Bitcoin is all over the news this month, and El Kaiser and J.D. discuss some of the more recent developments, along with the Consumer Reports verdict on the iPhone X and the legal tussle between oracle and Google. El Kaiser shares his thoughts on Crisis on Earth X and J.D. offers a (Hopefully) Helpful Hint on converting those meeting notes scrawled on the office whiteboard into text you can edit on your phone. Oh, and there’s a little movie called Star Wars: The Last Jedi headed to theaters this month, so if you need something to listen to while you’re waiting around in line for it, push Play on Episode 255 here!

Bitcoin Shakes Off Bubble Warnings in Race Past $15,000 Mark (Bloomberg)
Steam Community Announcements (Steam blog)
Digital currency exchange NiceHash says Bitcoin worth nearly $64 million hacked (Reuters)
Instagram is testing a separate messaging app and may remove DMs from the core app (The Verge)
iPhone X is inferior to Samsung’s new phones, Consumer Reports says (CBNC)
CR’s Final iPhone X Test Results: Top-Scoring Camera and Display But Also Some Flaws (Consumer Reports)
Inside Oracle’s cloak-and-dagger political war with Google (Recode)
Chrome Apps are dead, as Google shuts down the Chrome Web Store section (Ars Technica)
Lyft’s self-driving pilot with nuTonomy begins rolling out in Boston (TechCrunch)
Your Search questions, answered selfie-style on Google (The Keyword blog)
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (StarWars.com)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

Scanning, Converting and Editing Text on the Go (The New York Times)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint, Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 253: Trolling Right Along

November 7, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

It’s been a heavy week of Congressional hearings over foreign influence in a U.S. election and another terrorist attack in New York City — and technology was all over both events. El Kaiser and J.D. ponder the recent developments, as well as the arrival of the iPhone X and an iOS 11.1 update that brings a hedgehog emoji character at last. El Kaiser also has an in-depth interview with two opinionated technology experts on the gear they’ve incorporated into their everyday lives. Come join us for Episode 253!

Russia Investigation Has Tech Giants Shying From ‘Social’ Label (The New York Times)
Russian ads, now publicly released, show sophistication of influence campaign (The Washington Post)
How Russian trolls got into your Facebook feed (The Washington Post)
Facebook’s business is booming, but it says preventing abuse will cut into future profits (The Verge)
Live updates: Facebook, Google and Twitter testified before Congress again (Recode)
Mark Zuckerberg statement on Facebook
U.S. Prosecutors Consider Charging Russian Officials in DNC Hacking Case (The Wall Street Journal)
Snap Maps offered real-time coverage of Tuesday’s terror attacks in Manhattan (plus a lot of emoji) (Nieman Journalism Lab)
Google Assistant for Android now supports Spanish and Italian (Engadget)
Apple releases iOS 11.1 with hundreds of new emoji, 3D Touch multitasking fix, more (9to5Mac.com)
The iPhone X Is Cool. That Doesn’t Mean You Are Ready for It. (The New York Times)
iPhone sorts your semi-nude photos in ‘brassiere’ folder (CNET)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

How to Enable One-Handed Mode in Android’s Google Keyboard (How-To Geek)
About the keyboards settings on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch (Apple)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint, Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 252: Naughty Bunnies

Audio October 29, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

It’s nature gone wild: The Bad Rabbit ransomware is having a mad hop through corporate networks around the world and rubber fish are lip-syncing Amazon’s Alexa. Meanwhile, Google wants to secure your account with actual keys and Amazon wants to pop the lock on your front door for package delivery. Spin up Episode 252 to get the details from El Kaiser and J.D., plus some tips for jumping smartphone platforms if you’ve decided to leave Apple for Google — or vice versa.

And don’t forget: Stranger Things 2 is now streaming on Netflix!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Episode

- Bad Rabbit: Ten things you need to know about the latest ransomware outbreak (ZDNet)
- Kaspersky May Have Found How Russian Hackers Stole NSA Data (SecurityWeek.Com)
- Google’s Key to Strong Password Protection Runs Into Limits (The New York Times)
- Google’s strongest security, for those who need it most (Google blog)
- Amazon to sell smart locks so it can slip packages into your home (Reuters)
- Introducing Amazon Cloud Cam (Amazon)
- Blade Runner 2017: Quartz created a bot to hunt down political news bots on Twitter (Columbia Journalism Review)
- Nazi forums closed as Reddit purges ‘violent content’ (BBC News)
- Twitter nears first profitable quarter as it slashes expenses, shares jump (Reuters)
- Trump administration program to test expanded drone use (Reuters)
- Experiment with updates to Science Journal, now on iOS (Google blog)
- Roku Wants to Start Streaming to Third-Party Devices (EXCLUSIVE) (Variety)
- Apple’s Billion-Dollar Bet on Hollywood Is the Opposite of Edgy (Bloomberg)
- Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak: Not upgrading to iPhone X right away (CBNC)
- Microsoft has stopped making the Kinect, and that makes me sad (Ars Technica)
- Nintendo announces Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp for smartphones (The Verge)
- This Exists: Some Dude Connected An Amazon Echo to His Big Mouth Billy Bass (Mediaite)

Big Mouth Billy Bass will dance to music from an Amazon Echo (Business Insider)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

Switching Between Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android (The New York Times)
Switching is easier than ever (Google)
Move from Android to iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch (Apple)
https://selfsolve.apple.com/deregister-imessage (Apple)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 249: “Alexa, Activate My New York Comic Con Badge!”

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

It’s not just the abundance of pumpkin spice revving up the Big Apple air the first week of October — it’s the buzzy excitement of New York Comic Con returning once again to the Jacob K. Javits Center on the west side of Manhattan for four days of high-octane pop-culture fun. J.D. gets an insider’s view of the expo from Rich Bernatovech and Jamie Fay, two local comics creators who’ve been attending the event for years. This week’s episode also features a ramble through the recent tech headlines — including Amazon’s avalanche of Alexa gear — and a certain El Kaiser who’s more than a little leery of Apple’s new Face ID technology. Bang! Pow! Play!

Links to Stories on This Week’s Show

Twitter, With Accounts Linked to Russia, to Face Congress Over Role in Election (The New York Times)
Tweeters get cheeky after Twitter ups character limit (BBC News)
Facebook to Turn Over Russian-Linked Ads to Congress (The New York Times)
President Trump is accusing Facebook of being ‘anti-Trump’ (Recode)
Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook
Update on German Elections (Facebook)
Trying to Stem Fallout From Breach, Equifax Replaces C.E.O. (The New York Times)
Equifax Will Offer Free Credit Locks for Life, New CEO Says (Bloomberg)
Introducing the Next Generation of Echo: the All-New Amazon Echo and Echo Plus (Business Wire)
Introducing the All-New Amazon Fire TV with 4K Ultra HD and High Dynamic Range (Amazon)
Amazon Introduces a New Member of the Echo Family: Echo Spot (Amazon)
Amazon’s Echo Plus features a built-in smart home hub for $149 (Techcrunch)
Amazon announces $20 Echo Buttons for playing trivia games (The Verge)
Amazon Unveils $35 Gadget for Hands-Free Landline Phone Calls (Bloomberg)
About Face ID advanced technology (Apple Support)

Interview With Rich Bernatovech and Jamie Fay

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint, Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 247: Hello, Epic Equifail! Goodbye, Cassini!

September 18, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

As the scale of the epic security fail at the Equifax credit bureau comes into focus, El Kaiser and J.D. throwback to Episode 159 and a previous conversation about freezing your credit to ice out identity thieves. Among other headlines this week: The end of NASA’s historic Cassini mission to Saturn. Later in the show, El Kaiser shares his tips for dumping useless followers on social media and J.D. has advice for parents dealing with new teenage drivers. Oh, and Apple did a thing a few days ago, too. Spin up Episode 247 and join in!

Links to Stories in This Week’s Episode

Pop Tech Jam Episode 159: Put Your Credit on Ice…Online
Failure to patch two-month-old bug led to massive Equifax breach (Ars Technica)
FTC probes Equifax; top Democrat likens it to Enron (Reuters)
Ayuda! (Help!) Equifax Has My Data! (Krebs on Security)
Congress will hold two hearings on the massive Equifax data breach (Recode)
Equifax’s credit report monitoring site is also vulnerable to hacking (ZDNet)
We tested Equifax’s data breach checker — and it’s basically useless (ZDNet)
Here are all the big products Apple announced on Tuesday (CNBC)
iOS 11 to be released to the public on September 19 for iPhone and iPad (9to5Mac)
October 4th is new Pixel day, confirmed by Google with video and billboard (Android Police)
Privacy enhancements coming to the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (Windows Experience blog)
Trump administration orders purge of Kaspersky products from U.S. government (Reuters)
DHS Statement on the Issuance of Binding Operational Directive 17-01 (Department of Homeland Security)
Mueller Probe Has ‘Red-Hot’ Focus on Social Media, Officials Say (Bloomberg)
Facebook bans monetization of violence, porn, drugs, hate (TechCrunch)
Cassini Spacecraft Makes Its Final Approach to Saturn (NASA)
Excitement and Tears as NASA Goddard Team Prepares for Cassini Finale (NASA)
Cassini’s End of Mission (NASA)

Social-Media Ghostbusting Services

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

Apps to Provide Peace of Mind With a Teenager Behind the Wheel (The New York Times)
Eyes on the Road, Not on the Phone (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!