Tag Archives: pandemic

PTJ 357: Looking for Satellites

August 31, 2021 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Changes are coming to the way the big app stores do business, the U.S. government spins up a fellowship program for new technologists and children in China get their gaming time regulated — El Kaiser and J.D. roll through the news of the past few weeks with plenty of opinions along the way. El Kaiser also has a public-service warning about a show to avoid and J.D. offers tips for those nervously heading back to the classroom or office before the pandemic wanes. Click right here to join us on PTJ 357!

Apple loosens rules for developers in major concession amid antitrust pressure (The Washington Post)
South Korea passes bill limiting Apple, Google control over app payments (CNBC)
Apple’s Future iPhones to Include Satellite Features (Bloomberg)
Kuo: iPhone 13 to support LEO satellite communication, allowing users to make phone calls and send texts without cell signal (9to5Mac)
Apple Acquires Classical Streaming Service Primephonic (Billboard)
U.S. Digital Corps to Recruit the Next Generation of Technology Talent to Federal Service (GSA)
White House launches US Digital Corps (FedScoop)
United States Digital Corps
Windows 11 won’t include Android app support at launch (The Verge)
Zo om shares plummet in after-hours trading despite beating earnings ex pectations (Yahoo Finance)
Chinese Kids Have Their Online Gaming Time Slashed By New Government Rules (Kotaku)
Why pigeons mean peril for satellite broadband (BBC News)
Put Your Smartphone to Work for Your Return to the Office (The New York Times)

Episode Links

PTJ 336: Slice of Life

May 16, 2020 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Thinking of spending some of your inside time recording a podcast or your own music? After a tour through the week’s technology headlines with J.D., El Kaiser offers some shopping tips on microphones that make you sound way better than the one built into your laptop. Just click the Play button to hear it all on PTJ 336 — starting with a suggestion for another binge-worthy show to pass the time in the Quarantine Life.

Links to Stories in This Week’s News Segment

Community (NBC)
The 15 best episodes of Community (EW.com)
Community Cast — Including Donald Glover — to Reunite for Virtual Table Read (Variety)
TikTok Broke Privacy Promises, Children’s Groups Say (The New York Times)
Your Second First Trip (Uber Newsroom)
Google removed 813 creepware apps from the Android Play Store (ZDNet)
The Many Kinds of Creepware Used for Interpersonal Attacks (Semantic Scholar)
Merkley, Colleagues Continue to Lead Charge to Protect Consumers from Internet Shut-Offs During Pandemic (Jeff Merkley)
Keeping our employees and partners safe during #coronavirus (Twitter)
Apple Plans to Return More Staff to Offices in Break From Rivals (Bloomberg)
Organize your tabs with tab groups in Google Chrome (Keyword blog)
Protecting against resource-heavy ads in Chrome (Chromium Blog)
A first look at Unreal Engine 5 (Unreal Engine)
PlayStation 5 will launch in 2020 holiday season despite coronavirus: Sony (CNBC)
Facebook to pay $52m to content moderators over PTSD (BBC News)
Jeffrey Katzenberg Blames Pandemic for Quibi’s Rough Start (The New York Times)
‘Hamilton’ coming to Disney+ in July (CNN)
Slice raised $43M in Series C funding to power local pizza (Slice Pizza Blog)

Shopping for Microphones

Episode Links

PTJ 333: ‘MYST’ E-Memories

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

As much of the United States drifts into its second month of lockdown to help stop the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the joy of playing old predictable games in decidedly unpredictable times. This week’s episode also includes a roundup of the past week’s technology news and a sharing of feelings about the Titans show on DC Universe. Spin up PTJ 333 to hear it all!

Links to News Stories Discussed on This Week’s Show

Apple iPhone SE 2020 update (MacRumors)
Zoom’s Security Woes Were No Secret to Business Partners Like Dropbox (The New York Times)
Virtual Nightlife Grows Past DJ Livestreams to Paid Zoom Clubs (Bloomberg)
Walmart is selling its on-demand video service Vudu to Fandango (TechCrunch)
Facebook removes some events calling for protests of stay-at-home orders (NBC News)
Facebook to Introduce an App for Gaming (The New York Times)
Mark Zuckerberg: How data can aid the fight against covid-19 (The Washington Post)
Instagram founders launch COVID-19 spread tracker Rt.live (TechCrunch)
‘One World’ concert raises more than $127m for WHO emergency response fund (CNN)
San Diego Comic-Con Canceled Amid Coronavirus Pandemic (The Hollywood Reporter)
The Entire Weekend Box Office Report Is From a Single Drive-In in Florida (ScreenCrush)
Domestic 2020 Weekend 16 (BoxOfficeMojo.com)

Retro Games for Uncertain Times

The Comfort of Childhood Media During Lockdown (The New York Times)
Myst
How to Find the Video Games of Your Youth (The New York Times)
Some Alternatives for the Bored Gamer (The New York Times)
It’s a Perfect Time to Play Video Games. And You Shouldn’t Feel Bad About It. (The New York Times)
How to Run Old Games on Your Modern PC (PCMag.com)
Castle Wolfenstein (1984) in the Internet Archive
Return to Castle Wolfenstein on Steam
The Internet Archive Software Collection
Untitled Goose Game

Episode Links

PTJ 328: Going Viral

March 15, 2020 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

With COVID-19 disrupting life all over the world, El Kaiser and JD get socially distant and take to their respective bunkers to discuss the pandemic’s effect on life, work and everything. Click into PTJ 328 to have a listen wherever you happen to spending your international public health crisis!

COVID-19 Coronavirus Outbreak (World Health Organization)
Coronavirus: What We’re Doing and How You Can Help (Folding@Home)
IsItCanceledYet.com
Twitter makes working from home mandatory for employees around the world in response to COVID-19 (TechCrunch)
Coronavirus Is a Preview of Our Self-Isolating Future (Medium)
Apple’s next iPhone will add a rear-facing 3D depth camera (Fast Company)
AT&T Suspends Broadband Data Caps During Coronavirus Crisis (VICE)
Comcast keeps charging overage fees (Ars Technica)
Comcast accidentally published 200,000 “unlisted” phone numbers (Ars Technica)
Resumption of work at Foxconn factories in China beats expectations, says founder (Reuters)
Apple’s New iPhone Camera Looks Like A Huge Upgrade (Forbes)
Apple’s massive iPhone 12 upgrade to pack a ‘world-facing’ 3D camera (BGR.com)
Bill Gates is stepping down from the boards of Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway to focus on ‘philanthropic priorities’ (Business Insider)
Firefox 74 slams Facebook in solitary confinement: Browser add-on stops social network stalking users across the web (The Register)
Why the web needs to work for women and girls (World Wide Web Foundation)
Apple Arcade

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!