Tag Archives: privacy

PTJ 300: Close Comfort

February 7, 2019 J.D. Biersdorfer 3 Comments

As Pop Tech Jam hits the canonical 300-episode mark, El Kaiser and J.D. ponder the skill (or lack thereof) needed to create a good grilled-cheese sandwich — before discussing the week’s technology news and a roundup of public-safety and information apps. Cook yourself up a toastie and have a listen!

News Stories Discussed on This Week’s Show

Facebook ordered by Germany to gather and mix less data (BBC News)
Facebook will reveal who uploaded your contact info for ad targeting (TechCrunch)
Many popular iPhone apps secretly record your screen without asking (TechCrunch)
Spam does not bring us joy—ridding Gmail of 100 million more spam messages with TensorFlow (Google Cloud Blog)
Gmail using TensorFlow to block 100M more spam messages (9to5Google)
Spotify is spending up to $500 million on podcast startups including Gimlet, Anchor (Recode)
Apple’s head of retail Angela Ahrendts is leaving after 5 years (CNN)
Facebook turnover: The woman who’s been leading Facebook’s PR team is leaving (Recode)
Lime raises another $310 million, bringing its valuation to $2.4 billion (VentureBeat)
E-Scooter Ride-Share Industry Leaves Injuries and Angered Cities in its Path (Consumer Reports)
How Hackers and Scammers Break into iCloud-Locked iPhones (Motherboard)
Security researcher demos macOS exploit to access Keychain passwords, but won’t share details with Apple out of protest (9to5Mac)
New design improves firefighting robots, increases maneuverability to fight fires better, save lives (Purdue University)

Apps for Public Safety and Civic Duty, plus Grilled Cheese Recipes

Citizen app for Android
Citizen app for iOS
‘Citizen,’ the app that alerts you when crime is happening nearby, rolls out in San Francisco (The Washington Post)
Controversial NYC Crime-Fighting App Returns With Live Video (NBC New York)
See Something, Send Something app for NYC
Keep your ear to the streets with the best police scanner apps (Digital Trends)
Waze app for Android and iOS
Google and Waze Must Stop Sharing Drunken-Driving Checkpoints, New York Police Demand (The New York Times)
NYPD Says Waze Ruins Checkpoints, But Google Lawyers Won’t Likely Shift (Forbes)
Broadcastify
Ultimate Gourmet Grilled Cheese (The Chunky Chef)
Best-Ever Grilled Cheese (Bon Appétit)
Grilled Cheese Sandwich (NYT Cooking)
Noorman’s Kil Whiskey & Grilled Cheese of Brooklyn
Full text of “The Garden Of Forking Paths Jorge Luis Borges 1941” (Whoops, 1941, not 1948!)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 299: Tumblin’ Down

January 31, 2019 J.D. Biersdorfer 2 Comments

The winter temperatures in the American Midwest may have plummeted, but in the technology world, it’s Apple and Facebook bouncing off the floor — and into each other over user privacy. El Kaiser and J.D. chew through the events of the past week, and also pause to ponder another question: How many streaming services can one actually have until it feels like paying the same old big bucks for a cable subscription? Click up Episode 299 to hear it all!

Links to News Stories Discussed on This Week’s Show

Apple Bug Lets IPhone Users Listen in on Others Via FaceTime (Bloomberg)
Apple Was Slow to Act on FaceTime Bug That Allows Spying on iPhones (The New York Times)
Attorney General James and Governor Cuomo Announce Investigation Into Apple FaceTime Privacy Breach (New York State Attorney General’s Office)
Apple Music takes flight on American Airlines (Apple)
New iPhone, iPad in 2019 and 2020: What to Expect from Apple (Bloomberg)
Apple bans Facebook’s Research app that paid users for data (TechCrunch)
Apple is punishing Facebook big-time for breaking its rules (Recode)
Apple blocks Facebook from running its internal iOS apps (The Verge)
Google will stop peddling a data collector through Apple’s back door (TechCrunch)
Maybe Only Tim Cook Can Fix Facebook’s Privacy Problem (The New York Times)
Facebook Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2018 Results (Facebook)
Does Facebook Really Know How Many Fake Accounts It Has? (The New York Times)
What you need to know about the sunset of consumer Google+ on April 2 (Google Cloud Blog)
IBM Research Releases ‘Diversity in Faces’ Dataset to Advance Study of Fairness in Facial Recognition Systems (IBM Blog Research)
MIT robot combines vision and touch to learn the game of Jenga (MIT News)

Swimming in Streams

How Long Do We Have Until We Reach Peak Streaming Service? (Gizmodo)
Expect peak streaming to further fragment the industry (The Business Journals)
Guide to Streaming Video Services (Consumer Reports)
Best Streaming Video Services 2019 (Tom’s Guide)
The Complete List of Streaming Services – 100+ Services (Flixed)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint, Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 298: Over Easy

January 22, 2019 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Famous eggs, self-delivering scooters, rabbit-ears making a comeback and YouTube tries to ban stupidity — El Kaiser and JD catch up on a big pile of technology news from the past week or two. And in a (Hopefully) Helpful Hint, J.D. explains how to use a free, pre-built spreadsheet to track your finances. Roll on into PTJ 298 to hear it all!

Stories Discussed on This Week’s Show

Facebook’s WhatsApp limits text forwards to five recipients to curb rumors (Reuters)
Uber plans to develop self-driving electric scooters and bicycles (The Daily Telegraph)
Google Maps wants to help you avoid that speeding ticket (Mashable)
Material Design for Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Sites on Web (G Suite Updates Blog)
Oscars: ‘Roma’ Lands Netflix Its First Best Picture Nom (The Hollywood Reporter)
Netflix just announced the biggest price increase in the history of its streaming service (BGR)
Netflix in advanced talks to join major Hollywood lobbying group (Poltico)
Nielsen: 16M U.S. homes now get TV over-the-air, a 48% increase over past 8 years (TechCrunch)
YouTube bans dangerous pranks following Bird Box, Tide Pod challenges (The Verge)
An issue with protected Tweets on Twitter for Android (Twitter Help)
DuckDuckGo Taps Apple Maps to Power Private Search Results (Spread Privacy)
Twitter is bringing back the chronological timeline, and in a sensible way (Android Authority)
Facebook’s ’10 Year Challenge’ Is Just a Harmless Meme—Right? (WIRED)
Facebook’s own employees appear to be leaving 5-star Amazon reviews for the Portal camera (The Verge)
Facebook launches petition feature, its next battlefield (TechCrunch)
You Deserve Privacy Online. Here’s How You Could Actually Get It (Tim Cook in TIME)
Apple Pay coming to Target, Taco Bell and more top US retail locations (Apple)
Google: data is more like sunlight than oil (Business Insider)
Who’s ‘Scam Likely’ and why do they keep calling you? (USA Today)
Roku Removes Infowars Channel Following Backlash (Variety)
An Egg, Just a Regular Egg, Is Instagram’s Most-Liked Post Ever (The New York Times)
Ishan Goel tells TooFab why world_record_egg struck such a powerful pop culture chord, and warns about the dark side of viral success. (TooFab)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

The Easy (and Free) Way to Make a Budget Spreadsheet (The New York Times)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint, Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 294: Location, Location, Location

December 10, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Of course, your apps are tracking you! El Kaiser told you that years ago, but The New York Times now fills in the details. J.D. rounds up the headlines from the past two weeks for discussion and also offers a (Hopefully) helpful Hint about recording your family’s history in audio and video this holiday season. Pull up a chair and join us for PTJ 294!

Links to News Stories on This Week’s Show

Your Apps Know Where You Were Last Night, and They’re Not Keeping It Secret (The New York Times)
Community Standards (Facebook)
Facebook’s Sexual Solicitation Policy is a Honeypot for Trolls (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
A better, more positive Tumblr (Tumblr)
Tumblr will ban all adult content on December 17th (The Verge)
AlphaFold: Using AI for scientific discovery (DeepMind)
Microsoft Putting Edge on Chromium Will Fundamentally Change the Web (Motherboard)
Justice Dept. investigating millions of fake anti-net neutrality comments: report (TheHill)
China bans many iPhone models in Qualcomm patent dispute (Axios)
Kuo: ‘All-new design’ AirPods in 2020, wireless charging model in first quarter 2019 (9to5Mac)
Apple Will Wait Until at Least 2020 to Release a 5G iPhone (Bloomberg)
Microsoft Is Worth as Much as Apple. How Did That Happen? (The New York Times)
Google acquires India-focused app Where is My Train (Android Authority)
EU questioning companies about Google’s search practices: report (TheHill)
Marriott Hacking Exposes Data of Up to 500 Million Guests (The New York Times)
AT&T details its streaming service plans as it weighs a sale of its Hulu stake (TechCrunch)
E Ink’s new digital paper lets you draw with almost no lag (The Next Web)
The U.S. Army Has A New Plan To Recruit Gamers (Kotaku)
Nasa’s Voyager 2 probe ‘leaves the Solar System’ (BBC News)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

Record and Share Your Family History in 5 Steps (The New York Times)
10 Types of Microphones (HowStuffWorks)
StoryCorps apps
Oral History Interviews (The American Folklife Center)
Conducting Oral Histories with Family Members (UCLA Library)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 291: Walk This Way

November 4, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

There’s been a lot of movement in the tech world the past week — Google employees got to their feet to protest the company’s treatment of women, Apple rolled out new hardware and Facebook got slapped officially with a big fine for misuse of customer data. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the tech news from the past 10 days or so, and with the U.S. elections looming, also offer a few resources for voters. Roll on over to PTJ 291!

Links to News Stories Discussed This Week

Google staff walk out over women’s treatment (BBC News)
Google Walkout: Employees Stage Protest Over Handling of Sexual Harassment (The New York Times)
Google Faces Internal Backlash Over Handling of Sexual Harassment (The New York Times)
How Google Protected Andy Rubin, the ‘Father of Android’ (The New York Times)
Google sacks dozens over sexual harassment (BBC News)
Apple event: New iPads, Macs announced (CNN)
Tim Cook calls for strong US privacy law, rips “data-industrial complex” (Ars Technica)
Former Facebook security chief questions Apple’s privacy double standard in China (Apple Insider)
ICO issues maximum £500,000 fine to Facebook for failing to protect users’ personal information (ICO)
Facebook is building Lasso, a video music app to steal TikTok’s teens (TechCrunch)
This Thermometer Tells Your Temperature, Then Tells Firms Where to Advertise (The New York Times)
Google wants to improve your smart home with iRobot’s room maps (The Verge)
Twitter Q3 2018 earnings (CNBC)
FY19Q1 – Press Releases – Investor Relations (Microsoft)
Microsoft’s gaming revenue surges 44% in Q1 2019 (VentureBeat)
IBM to acquire Red Hat in deal valued at $34 billion (CNBC)
Portrait by AI program sells for $432,000 (BBC News)

GO VOTE

Vote411.org
John Oliver’s Plug for Vote411 Sparks Huge 2000 Percent Spike for Voter Information Site (San Francisco Chronicle)
Alexa can now talk about the midterm elections (VentureBeat)
Ballotpedia

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 288: Hot New Suits for Fall

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

It’s not just the leaves starting to waft through the air here in North America — plenty of lawsuits are swirling as well. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss some of the bigger ones, including legal action aimed at California’s new net neutrality rules and Facebook’s latest woes. And for those who aren’t fans of the new Gmail web design, J.D. has some tips for making the interface feel more familiar. Click on through to PTJ 288!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Show

The Trump administration is suing California to quash its new net neutrality law (The Washington Post)
Facebook’s Massive Security Breach: Everything We Know (WIRED)
Facebook Faces Potential $1.63 Billion Fine in Europe Over Data Breach (The Wall Street Journal)
Content Moderator Sues Facebook, Says Job Gave Her PTSD (Motherboard)
Facebook’s recent ‘bear hug’ of Instagram frustrated its independent founders (Recode)
Instagram Founders Resign Over Differences With Facebook (New York)
SEC settles charges with Tesla’s Elon Musk, will remain as CEO (CNBC)
LinkNYC’s 5 million users make 500,000 phone calls each month i
Use of internet, social media, digital devices plateaus in US (Pew Research Center)
Amazon And Snapchat Form A Powerful Partnership (Forbes)
Google Chief Agrees to Testify to Congress (The New York Times)
Google Names New Privacy Chief, Offers Framework for Regulation (Bloomberg)
Google Privacy Framework Document (Google)
Introducing Google Discover: Discover new information and inspiration with Search, no query required (Google blog)
Safari’s “Siri Suggested” Search Results Highlighted Conspiracy Sites And Fake News (BuzzFeed News)
Microsoft reveals huge Windows 10 news ahead of major update (Express)
Windows 10 October 2018 Update: The 7 best new features (CNET)
Windows 10 October 2018 Update may be released on October 2 (Neowin)
Microsoft Whiteboard launches on iOS, hits the web in preview (Windows Central)
Mouse and Keyboard Support for Xbox One Developers (Xbox Wire)
Yes, Lakers Legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Is Writing For “Veronica Mars” (LAist)
“Doctor Who” Returns Oct. 7, 2018 (BBC)

The New Gmail Is Here to Stay

Learn what’s new in Gmail (Gmail Help)
5 ways the new Gmail can help you get more done (Google Keyword blog)
Gmail Support Page
See Gmail in standard or basic HTML version (Gmail Help)

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 279: The Long Arm of the Law

July 9, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

In that quiet time of the year between developer conferences and the back-to-school sales, product announcements are scarce — but the hazy, lazy days of summer are no vacation for the legal world! As El Kaiser and J.D. discover on this week’s episode, court rulings and decisions by lawmakers dominated the news this week, with a few bug revivals thrown in for good measure. J.D. also explores the new Windows 10 Timeline feature in Microsoft’s latest operating-system update, so beat the heat and find a cool place to settle in with Episode 279!

Links to News Stories on This Week’s Episode

EU lawmakers vote against tough line on copyright reform (Reuters)
Kim Dotcom loses latest appeal against US extradition (BBC News)
Yelp can’t be forced to take down libelous reviews, court rules (The Verge)
Why California Privacy Law Promises Chaos by 2020 (eWeek)
Third-party developers could have been reading your Gmail messages – here’s what to do about it (London Evening Standard)
Ensuring your security and privacy within Gmail (Google Blog)
New Facebook privacy mishap: A software bug that ‘unblocked’ people (Recode)
Letting People Know About a Blocking Bug (Facebook Newsroom)
Facebook’s Political Rule Blocks Ads for Bush’s Beans, Singers Named Clinton (Bloomberg)
Facebook Ads Offer Peek at Looming Supreme Court Fight (The New York Times)
Ugandans Aren’t Happy With New Tax for Using Social Media (Time)
Akamai Releases Summer 2018 State of the Internet Security Report (Akamai)
This password-stealing malware just added a new way to infect your PC (ZDNet)
Tech-support scammers revive bug that sends Chrome users into a panic (Ars Technica)
Samsung Note 9 Premium Smartphone to Debut on Aug. 9 (eWeek)
Amazon Takes a Page From Toys ‘R’ Us With a Holiday Catalog (Bloomberg)
An Archive of Radio Shack Catalogs

Windows 10 Timeline

Introducing Windows Timeline (Windows channel on YouTube)
Get help with timeline (Microsoft)
How to Use Timeline With Windows 10 (The New York Times)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint, Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 273: Still the Right Stuff

May 21, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Yanny or Laurel? El Kaiser was too busy mixing up podcasts to weigh in, and J.D. thought the whole thing was dumb and tuned into Queen Ida and the Bon Temps Zydeco Band instead — but The New York Times built a handy little tool to demonstrate how audio frequencies factor into the matter. Beyond all that, Episode 273 serves up the week’s tech news, pours one out for Tom Wolfe and contemplates the strange notion of secure and private email. Give a listen!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Episode

Senate votes to overturn Ajit Pai’s net neutrality repeal (Ars Technica)
Twitter is going to make third-party apps worse starting in August (The Verge)
Microsoft Plans Low-Cost Tablet Line to Rival iPad (Bloomberg)
Facebook adds Voice Posts, Stories archive, and new cloud storage features (The Verge)
Facebook lets advertisers target users based on sensitive interests (The Guardian)
Mark Zuckerberg to Meet European Parliament Members Over Facebook’s Data Use (The New York Times)
Jigsaw’s Project Shield Will Protect Campaigns From Online Attacks (Wired)
YouTube is going to charge more to see ad-free shows like ‘Cobra Kai’ (Recode)
Music on YouTube will now include expanded artist credits and link to official video (9to5Google)
Amazon Prime members get exclusive savings at Whole Foods (Amazon Press Room)
Scott Kelly: How Tom Wolfe Changed My Life (The New York Times)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

Finding Privacy for Email (The New York Times)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 270: On the Hook

May 3, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

California fires a shot across the bow of the FCC’s net neutrality repeal, Amazon’s Alexa has a new do-it-yourself project for users and even aquariums aren’t safe on the Internet of Things. El Kaiser and J.D. sort through the technology news of the past 10 days before discussing a great vacation destination for aviation and NASA nerds: The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virgina, home to the National Air & Space Museum’s big collection of airplanes and spacecraft. Jump into it all here in Episode 270 of Pop Tech Jam!

Links to Stories Mentioned On This Week’s Show