Tag Archives: monopoly

PTJ 347: Out With a Bang

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

As 2020 winds down to its final weeks, El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the recent spate of bad news regarding national security, pandemic spread and video-game fails. But as depressing as the news can be, there’s new hope for 2021 — at least when it comes to decent Star Wars movies and shows. Punch up PTJ 347 and join us for the ride!

A huge THANK YOU to BROS for hosting us and all our faithful listeners for riding along with us here in the Q-Zone. We’ll be back in January, so Happy New Year!

• Russia’s Hacking Frenzy Is a R eckoning (WIRED)
• Trump Contradicts Pompeo Over Russia’s Role in H ack (The New York Times)
• The Great iPwn: Journalists Hacked with Suspected NSO Group iMessage ‘Zero-Click’ Exploit (Citizen Lab)
• A l Jazeera journalists ‘hacked v ia NSO Group spyware’ (BBC News)
• The Antitrust Case Against Big Tech, Shaped by Tech In dustry Exiles (The New York Times)
• Google’s Legal Peril Grows in Face of Third Antitrust Suit
(The New York Times)
• U.S. and States Say Facebook Illegally Crushed C ompetition
(The New York Times)
• Tim Cook tweeted about App Tracking Transparency and it’s easy to see the targ et (iMore)
• Facebook’s Laugha ble Campaign Against Apple Is Really Against Users and Small Businesses (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
• C OVID-19 closes n early 100 Apple Stores during holiday season peak (9to5Mac)
• Cyberpunk 2077 Was Supposed to Be the Biggest Video Game of the Year. What Happened? (The New York Times)
• A Complete Guide to Every Star Wars Show Coming to Disney+ (Esquire)
• ‘St ar Wars’ and Marvel’s Futures Now Flow Through Disney Plus (Variety)

Episode Links

PTJ 345: At Last

October 19, 2020 J.D. Biersdorfer 2 Comments

What day is it? Does it matter? Time may be a flat circle that got hit by the Covid Truck for many people, but things have happened this month: Apple finally rolls out its four iPhone 12 models, Facebook finally bans Holocaust-denial content and and a House committee finally produces its report on Big Tech and monopoly. El Kaiser and J.D. muse upon it all, along with with a new set of headphones that gets the Rosado Review. Hear it all on PTJ 345!

• Six Russian GRU Officers Charged in Connection with Worldwide Deployment of Destructive Malware and Other Disruptive Actions in Cyberspace (United States Department of Justice)
• The Citizen Browser Project—Auditing the Algorithms of Disinformation (The Markup)
• Facebook says it rejected 2.2m ads for breaking political campaigning rules (The Guardian)
• Twitter, Responsibility, and Accountability (Stratechery by Ben Thompson)
• Apple Launches ‘Apple Music TV,’ a 24-Hour Music Video Livestream (Variety)
• Apple introduces iPhone 12 Pro an d iPhone 12 Pro Max with 5G (Apple Newsroom)
• Apple announces iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini: A new era for iPhone with 5G (Apple Newsroom)
• Apple introduces HomePod mini: A powerful smart speaker with amazing sound (Apple Newsroom)
• Removing Holocaust Denial Conten t (About Facebook)
• Why Facebook Can’t Fix Itse lf (The New Yorker)
• The new Nest Thermostat: more energy savings for more people (Google Nest)
• Amazon’s Latest Gimmicks Are Pushing the Limits of Privacy (WIRED)
• Amazon launches an AR app that works with new QR codes on its boxes (TechCrunch)
• The House Antitrust Report on Big Tech (The New York Times)
• Google’s merger with ITA helped it grow into the giant that the Justice Department is scrutinizing (The Washington Post)
• E U targets Big Tech with ‘hit list’ facing tougher rule s (Financial Times)
• Exclusive: TikTok rival Triller explores deal to go public – sources (Reuters)
• Disn ey reorganizes to focus on streaming, direct to consumer (CNBC)
• AKG K553 MKII Headphones

Episode Links

PTJ 343: Battle Royale

August 20, 2020 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Epic Games has fired antitrust shots at Apple and Google over their app stores, Facebook does a bit of cleaning and fans of Microsoft Fight Simulator can take to the virtual skies again in a glorious new version of the program . Meanwhile, back on the ground, El Kaiser has thoughts on Star Wars: Resistance and J.D. shares some tips on what to do with your old gear after you upgrade to new stuff. All this and more, right here on PTJ 343!

Star Wars: Resistance (StarWars.com)
Epic used its playbook for Fortnite events against Apple and Google (The Verge)
Apple’s Epic retaliation: Unreal Engine on iOS and Mac in jeopardy (VentureBeat)
Epic Games’ Fortnite lawsuits against Apple and Google, explained (Polygon)
“Nighteen Eighty-Fortnite” (YouTube)
Apple tells Epic ‘we won’t make an exception’ for Fortnite (The Verge)
Facebook restricts more than 10,000 QAnon and US militia groups (The Guardian)
QAnon: Facebook takes action on conspiracy groups (BBC News)
Facebook algorithm found to ‘actively promote’ Holocaust denial (The Guardian)
A Single Way to Log Into Oculus and Unlock Social Features (Oculus)
A Facebook Account Will Be Mandatory for Future Oculus Devices (Gizmodo)
Instagram launches QR codes globally, letting people open a profile from any camera app (The Verge)
A more detailed, colorful map (Google blog)
TikTok announces a deal with UnitedMasters, its first music distribution partnership (TechCrunch)
TikTok Starts Website to Take on Rumors, Misinformation (Bloomberg)
Cops in Miami, NYC arrest protesters from facial recognition matches (Ars Technica)
Save 50%: CBS and Showtime bundle offer now available for Apple TV+ subscribers (9to5Mac)
Microsoft outlines its IE, legacy Edge phase-out timetable (ZDNet)
Microsoft Flight Simulator: The entire world in a game (BBC News)
Opinion | I Tried Microsoft’s Flight Simulator. The Earth Never Seemed So Real. (The New York Times)
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Microsoft Flight Simulator (Steam)
Protect Your Privacy and the Environment While Upgrading Your Gear (The New York Times)

Episode Links, Podcast

Episode 308: Separation Anxiety

May 10, 2019 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

El Kaiser and JD finally got out of Avengers: Endgame and are back in the recording bunker to discuss recent tech news – including Google’s I/O conference and a former Facebook founder’s call for the government to bust up his former company. JD also explores the new movement that have some people spending less time staring at their smartphones screens. Episode 308 awaits!

Links to Stories In This Week’s News Segment

The 8 biggest announcements from the Google I/O 2019 keynote (The Verge)
I/O 2019: New features to help you develop, release, and grow your business on Google Play (Android Developers Blog)
Facebook talked privacy, Google actually built it (TechCrunch)
Google’s YouTube Music Tops 15 Million Subscribers (Bloomberg)
The 5 biggest announcements from Facebook’s F8 developer conference keynote (The Verge)
It’s Time to Break Up Facebook (The New York Times)
Video game ‘loot boxes’ would be outlawed in many games under forthcoming federal bill (The Washington Post)
FTC Members Unanimously Press Congress for Tough National Privacy Protections (Gizmodo)
Member of Sophisticated China-Based Hacking Group Indicted for Series of Computer Intrusions, Including 2015 Data Breach of Health Insurer Anthem Inc. Affecting Over 78 Million People (Department of Justice)
Tenants win as settlement orders landlords give physical keys over smart locks (CNET)
Los Angeles Uber drivers join cities across the U.S. in strike ahead of much-anticipated IPO (The Los Angeles Times)
Windows Hello FIDO2 certification gets you closer to passwordless (Microsoft Tech Community)
Jeff Bezos unveils Moon lander concept (BBC News)
Avengers: Endgame adds the Spider-Man trailer as a post-credits scene (Polygon)

Break Up Phone (For A While, Anyway)

Do Not Disturb: How I Ditched My Phone and Unbroke My Brain (The New York Times)
Use Screen Time on Your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch (Apple Support)
Digital Wellbeing (Google)

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