Tag Archives: security

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint, Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 256: Age/Old Problems

December 24, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

As the tired old year of 2017 limps toward the exit, it seems fitting that age discrimination is in the news this week — both for smartphones and human job-seekers. El Kaiser and J.D. sort through two weeks’ worth of headlines, share their musings on Star Wars: The Last Jedi and offer up a warning about using browser extensions.

It’s been a crazy year in many ways, but Pop Tech Jam returns in early 2018, just in time to make fun of the weirdest products at the Consumer Electronics Show. Spin up Episode 256 here and look for us in a few weeks. Happy Holidaze, Jammers!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Episode

Apple Plans Combined iPhone, iPad & Mac Apps to Create One User (Bloomberg)
Apple responds to reports of worn batteries forcing iPhone CPU slowdowns (Apple Insider)
Facebook Job Ads Raise Concerns About Age Discrimination (The New York Times)
Facebook Is Also Helping Employers Keep Job Ads Away From Older People (Gizmodo)
How to use login verification (Twitter)
Web browsing comes to Amazon’s Fire TV ahead of YouTube ban (CNET)
The War Over Net Neutrality (Bloomberg)
New York AG to Sue FCC Over Net Neutrality Repeal (The Hill)
Netflix rips net neutrality repeal: ‘This is the beginning of a longer legal battle’ (The Hill)
Three U.S. men plead guilty to crimes tied to 2016 botnet attacks (Reuters)
How a Dorm Room Minecraft Scam Brought Down the Internet (Wired)
Twitter says Russians spent ~$1k on six Brexit-related ads (TechCrunch)
New to Office 365 in December—extending human ingenuity with everyday AI (Office Blogs)
Microsoft looks to make Bing results smarter with new AI-powered features and Reddit partnership (TechCrunch)
Google Assistant is coming to older Android phones and tablets (TechCrunch)
News Feed FYI: Fighting Engagement Bait on Facebook (Facebook)
Facebook plans to stop paying publishers to make news feed videos (Digiday)
Disney’s Buyout of Fox Officially Announced, Bringing Home X-Men, Deadpool, Fantastic Four (The Mary Sue)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

Protecting Your Data When Using Browser Extensions (The New York Times)
After Blowback, Firefox Will Move Mr. Robot Extension to Store (Gizmodo)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint, Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 250: “El Kaiser, Did We Forget to Mention This Was Our 250th Episode?”

October 6, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Google took its turn spewing out the fall product lineup this week, with the Pixel 2 phone, Pixelbook laptop, Pixel Pen Stylus — and a whole bunch of Google Home offerings — announced. Meanwhile, Yahoo’s big hack was worse then the company previously announced (why, yes, it is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month). The former Equifax CEO got trolled hard at his Senate hearing and NASA invites space fans to send their names to Mars. Upward!

Links to Stories Mentioned on This Week’s Show

Here’s everything Google announced today (TechCrunch)
Facebook Fought Rules That Could Have Exposed Fake Russian Ads (Bloomberg)
Facebook tests explaining media sources (The Verge)
Monopoly Man photobombs Senate hearing on Equifax (CNN)
Yahoo’s 2013 Email Hack Actually Compromised Three Billion Accounts (Wired)
Sonos launches public beta for Alexa voice control (The Verge)
Sputnik-1 (NASA)
Sputnik beep (NASA audio archive)
NASA Audio and Ringtones (NASA)
Send Your Name to Mars! (NASA)
Mars Exploration Missions (NASA)
Everything We Know About Elon Musk’s Big Freakin’ Rocket (Nerdist)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

(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)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint, Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 239: Leak Week

June 24, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

June is Internet Safety Month, but it hasn’t been very safe for the personal information of 198 million people, which got exposed by sloppy data handling. The notoriously private Apple got trolled as well when a top-secret meeting about stopping data leaks got, er, leaked. After wading through the tech headlines of the week, El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the merits of RAID, as well as how to turn your smartphone into a handy magnifier for those annoying moments when you actually have to read the fine print. Episode 239 of Pop Tech Jam awaits you.

Links to Stories in This Week’s News Segment

GOP data firm accidentally leaks personal details of nearly 200 million American voters (Gizmodo)
UpGuard welcomes security expert Chris Vickery (UpGuard)
Leaked recording: Inside Apple’s global war on leakers (The Outline)
Apple’s Tim Cook asked President Trump for coding requirement at US schools (Apple Insider)
Amazon is buying Whole Foods for $13.7 billion (Business Insider)
Amazon plans cuts to shed Whole Foods’ pricey image (Bloomberg)
Time Warner just handed Snapchat a $100 million lifeline (CNBC)
FTC and two state attorneys general challenge proposed merger of the two largest daily fantasy sports sites, DraftKings and FanDuel (FTC.gov)
Evolution of Dropbox’s Edge Network (Dropbox blog)
Connecting more Americans with jobs (Google blog)
You asked, and we’re answering (Uber blog)
Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg joining Apple to lead video programming (Apple Newsroom)
Google launches exclusive Play Music feature for Galaxy S8 (Android Authority)
Atari CEO confirms the company is working on a new game console (VentureBeat)
Ataribox

Tech Term

• RAID levels explained (PCMag.com)
• Digital storage basics, Part 2: External drive vs. NAS server (CNET)
• How to configure a cheap, secure RAID backup system (Macworld)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

Use Your Phone as a Digital Magnifying Glass (The New York Times)
Using Android to Zoom In for a Closer Look (The New York Times)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 237: Days of Wonder

June 8, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference opened this week, bringing a ton of announcements and new-product demos to the faithful. Don Donofrio drops by to sort it all out with El Kaiser and JD. Meanwhile, governments fight with the Internet on multiple fronts and a certain Amazon Princess conquers the worldwide box office. All this and more on Episode 237!

Links to Stories in This Week’s Episode

Top-secret NSA report details Russian hacking effort days before 2016 election (The Intercept)
Contractor charged with the first leak under Trump (The New York Times)
London attack: Tech firms fight back in extremism row (BBC)
Uber fires more than 20 employees in harassment probe (Bloomberg)
Major web companies and public interest groups announce Internet-Wide Day of Action to Save Net Neutrality (Fight for the Future)
July 12th: Internet-wide day of action to save Net Neutrality (Battle for the Net)
IDC: Wearables grew 17.9% in Q1 2017, Xiaomi and Apple overtake Fitbit (VentureBeat)
SteamVR is coming to Mac—and Apple says it will actually work (Ars Technica)
(9to5Mac)
Microsoft leak reveals new Windows 10 Workstation edition for power users (The Verge)
Wonder Woman sets a record opening for a female-directed feature (BoxOfficeMojo.com)

Apple Stuff

Apple previews iOS 11
Apple introduced the new iPad Pro
Apple refreshes the iMac
Apple updates the MacBook and MacBook Pro
Apple gives a sneak peak at the new iMac Pro
Apple demos macOS High Sierra
Apple introduces HomePod
Apple announces watchOS 4
Apple revamps the App Store
Apple WWDC Keynote video
WWDC 2017 (MacRumors)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint, Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 236: Corporate Spies

May 26, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

On this week’s show. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss Google and Twitter’s current wave of privacy-policy changes and data-sharing with advertisers (all taking place before Facebook’s latest flap). Also in the news this week: patent trolls, resolution motion-sensor camera, Russian hackers actually hacking Russians and Iris, the data-sniffing dog. Buffer up and have a listen to Episode 236 of Pop Tech Jam!

Links to Stories in This Week’s Episode

Revealed: Facebook’s internal rulebook on sex, terrorism and violence (The Guardian)
U.S. top court tightens patent suit rules in blow to ‘patent trolls’ (Reuters)
Apple and Nokia settle patent dispute with new licensing agreement (MacRumors)
Nokia and Apple sign patent license and business cooperation agreement, settle all litigation (Apple Newsroom)
Google now knows when its users go to the store and buy stuff (The Washington Post)
The most important announcements from Google I/O 2017! (Android Central)
Exclusive: Nest is working on a 4K camera with advanced smart features (Android Police)
Hackers hit Russian bank customers, planned international cyber raids (Reuters)
DISH Debuts Hands-Free TV on Hopper DVR with Amazon Alexa (About DISH)
Meet the new Surface Pro (Windows Blog)
Hackers defeat Samsung Galaxy S8 iris scanner (Security Week)
Meet Iris of the FBI’s canine force who has a nose for data (NBC News)
Building new data controls and updating our privacy policy (Twitter blog)
Twitter’s updated privacy policy, effective June 18^th, 2017 (Twitter)
How to opt out of Twitter’s new privacy settings (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
If you have a Twitter account, change these privacy settings now (CNET)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 233: Tweet TV

May 5, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Twitter continues its experiments with live streaming video, Facebook is handing out coupons, there’s a new flavor of Windows 10 coming to town — and also maybe an Apple-branded talking Siri speaker on the way. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss it all on this week’s episode, while throwing a Tech Term and a (Hopefully) Helpful Hint into this week’s mix as well. Join us!

Links to Stories in This Week’s News Segment

New premium video content coming to Twitter (Twitter Blogs)
Twitter still thinks it’s a TV platform — and here are its dozen new shows (Recode)
Social media companies “shamefully far” from tackling illegal and dangerous content (UK Parliament)
Facebook Promoted Alex Hardiman to Lead Its News Products (Adweek)
‘Facebook Rewards’ QR codes dangle discounts for offline purchases (TechCrunch)
Presidential Executive Order on the Establishment of the American Technology Council (The White House)
Try out a fresh look for YouTube (YouTube blog)
Windows 10 S is Microsoft’s answer to Chrome OS (The Verge)
Intel patches remote code-execution bug that lurked in chips for 10 years (Ars Technica)
Major apps abandoning Apple Watch, including Google Maps, Amazon & eBay (Apple Insider)
Fitbit’s first post-Pebble smartwatch leaks with a mostly familiar design (9to5Google)
IAC to Buy Angie’s List in deal valued at over $500 million (Bloomberg)
Herrera repels legal challenge to short-term rental law, secures settlement with Airbnb and HomeAway (City Attorney of San Francisco)
Amid brick-and-mortar travails, a tipping point for Amazon in apparel (The New York Times)
Rumors emerge about Apple finalizing an Amazon Echo rival (Forbes)
Apple’s Siri-based smart speaker has ‘over 50% chance’ of debuting at WWDC in June (MacRumors)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 228: A.I., Ay Yi Yi

March 30, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

It’s not been a great week for the algorithms: Elon Musk downloaded a few concerned thoughts on the state of artificial intelligence to Vanity Fair, the F.B.I.’s facial recognition database has some glitches and Amazon’s shopper-tracking software gets confused when you put something back on the wrong shelf. But on the bright side, Hidden Figures, story about real human intelligence, arrived as a digital home-video download, so the week wasn’t all bad. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss it all — and a bunch of other tech news in between — on this week’s handcrafted episode of Pop Tech Jam.

Links to Stories in This Week’s News Segment

Introducing Live Location in Messenger (Facebook Newsroom)
More ways to share with the Facebook Camera (Facebook Newsroom)
Samsung to set the principles to recycle of returned Galaxy Note7 devices in an environmentally friendly way (Samsung Newsroom)
Facial recognition database used by FBI is out of control, House committee hears (Guardian)
Elon Musk takes on the “A.I. apocalypse” (Axios)
Elon Musk’s billion-dollar crusade to stop the A.I. apocalypse (Vanity Fair)
Elon Musk forming company dedicated to merging humans with machines (Consumerist)
Apple releases iOS 10.3 with Find My AirPods, Apple File System, CarPlay updates, more (9to5Mac)
Pages, Numbers, & Keynote for Mac and iOS add editing features & Touch ID for password protected docs (9to5Mac)
Download iOS 10.0 – iOS 10.3 information (Apple)
Security Update for the LastPass Extension (Last Pass blog)
Amazon’s store of the future is delayed. Insert ‘Told ya so’ from skeptical retail execs (Recode)
Amazon unveils 2 grocery pickup locations in Seattle (Seattle Times)
Expanding pre-roll ads to Periscope video (Twitter blog)
Comcast plans to launch low-cost broadband skinny TV bundles across U.S. footprint in Q3 (Variety)
“Rogue One” now available for digital download (StarWars.com)
“Hidden Figures” now available for digital download (Fox Digital)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 226: The Sound of Hacking

March 15, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

The Pi Day Northeast Blizzard of 2017 may have blown through, but El Kaiser is still powering through a nasty winter cold to get to this week’s tech and science news with J.D. — which features quite a bit of hacker activity, as well as an update on our old friend Boaty McBoatface. Episode 226 here also takes a look at public beta programs you can join to see the latest software first. Interested? Just push play to find out more!

Links to Stories in This Week’s News Segment

SXSW Interactive is still the most valuable business weekend of the year (Mashable)
Microsoft quietly delivers two Windows Update surprises (ZDnet)
Almost 48 million Twitter accounts are bots (Axios)
Sonic cyber attack shows security holes in ubiquitous sensors (University of Michigan)
Now you can navigate in Waze within Spotify; play Spotify music within Waze (9to5Google.com)
Pandora Premium will change the way you listen to Music (Pandora blog)
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer could get $23 million severance package after Verizon deal closes (Variety)
U.S. charges Russian FSB officers and their criminal conspirators for hacking Yahoo and millions of email accounts (US Department of Justice)
Russian agents were behind Yahoo hack, U.S. says (The New York Times)
Verizon sought $925 million penalty for Yahoo’s lax security (Associated Press)
Send and request money in your Gmail app on Android (Google blog)
Introducing the Family Link app: Helping families navigate technology together (Google blog)
Get started with Family Link (Google)
PlayStation Now: Stream PS4 games in 2017 (PlayStation blog)
Facebook and Instagram publicly prohibit surveillance of users following coalition demands (ACLU of Northern California)
Facebook and Twitter could face fines in Germany over hate speech posts (The New York Times)
NASA just found an orbiter that’s been missing around the moon for 8 years (The Washington Post)
Boaty McBoatface prepares for first Antarctic mission (NPR)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 225: Shazam!!

March 8, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

The hills are alive with the sound of buzzing drones, leaking data and the thwack of fake news getting smacked down. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss it all, as well as Shazam’s jump into augmented reality, smaller Windows 10 updates and Consumer Reports stepping it up to evaluate the security of new smart-home devices. Just press Play to get a fresh helping of the week’s news, a Tech Term and a (Hopefully) Helpful Hint — all in one episode!

WikiLeaks releases trove of alleged C.I.A. hacking documents (The New York Times)
Consumer Reports to begin evaluating products, services for privacy and data security (Consumer Reports)
‘Spammers’ exposed in data back-up slip-up (BBC News)
Future Windows 10 updates will require 35-65% less space, offer better Windows Update controls (Extreme Tech)
Snapchat’s parent craters for the first time, drops more than 12% (CNBC)
Facebook begins flagging ‘disputed’ (fake) news (USAToday)
Facebook failed to remove sexualised images of children (BBC News)
Suspect OKs Amazon to hand over Echo recordings in murder case (CNN)
Oops! Google caught spreading fake news over the weekend (CNET)
How is news marked as disputed on Facebook? (Facebook)
The Switch is the fastest-selling console in Nintendo history (Engadget)
How does Nintendo Switch actually stack up at a party? (Ars Technica)
Pulse: Let’s share, emote, and discover more together (Twitch blog)
Shazam launches first scaled augmented reality solution for brands worldwide (Shazam)

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!