Tag Archives: Snapchat

PTJ 310: Apple-Picking Time

June 3, 2019 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

El Kaiser and J.D. were off binging Good Omens, but finished just in time for Apple’s 2019 edition of its World Wide Developers Conference. This week’s episode discusses the major announcements from the keynote — including a revamp of El Kaiser’s absolute favorite piece of Mac desktop hardware. Looming government regulation, verified Rotten Tomatoes reviews and a virus-riddled laptop celebrated as art are also in this week’s headlines. Listen in to Episode 310!

Links to Stories in This Week’s News Segment

“Good Omens” (Official Trailer | Prime Video)
How Amazon’s Good Omens series pays tribute to author Terry Pratchett (Polygon)
Robert Pattinson Is Officially ‘The Batman’ (Variety)

Apple’s WWDC Highlights: Death of iTunes and $6,000 Macs (The New York Times)
Why the iPhone 11 successor could be the phone to get (CNET)
Apple Suddenly Confirms Three New iPhones (Forbes)
Amazon could face heightened antitrust scrutiny under a new agreement between U.S. regulators (The Washington Post)
Google Is at the Center of a Storm Brewing Over Big Tech (The New York Times)
Twitter Is Running Lots More Ads, And Some Are Scammy Or Just Bad (BuzzFeed News)
Snapchat Employees Abused Data Access to Spy on Users (VICE)
An Update on How We Are Doing At Enforcing Our Community Standards (Facebook Newsroom)
Opinion | Nancy Pelosi and Fakebook’s Dirty Tricks (The New York Times)
IGTV Now Supports Landscape Videos (Instagram)
How Ireland became Europe’s data watchdog (BBC News)
What’s for dinner? Order it with Google (Google blog)
Amazon interested in buying Boost from T-Mobile, Sprint (Reuters)
Mobile carrier AT&T will now accept payments in crypto (The Block)
Amazon Is Working on a Device That Can Read Human Emotions (Bloomberg)
We’re introducing Verified Ratings and Reviews to Help You Make Your Viewing Decisions (Rotten Tomatoes)
Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass is coming to PC (Engadget)
Metadata is the biggest little problem plaguing the music industry (The Verge)
Auction for a laptop full of malware closes at $1.3 million (updated) (Engadget)

Apple World Wide Developers Conference 2019 Announcements

New iPod touch delivers even greater performance (Apple)
Apple previews iOS 13 (Apple)
The new iPadOS powers unique experiences designed for iPad (Apple)
Apple unveils powerful, all-new Mac Pro and groundbreaking Pro Display XDR (Apple)
watchOS 6 advances health and fitness capabilities for Apple Watch (Apple)
tvOS 13 powers the most personal cinematic experience ever (Apple)
Apple WWDC 2019 Keynote Video (Apple)
The Mac Pro Cheese Grater Is Back (And It Looks Powerful as Hell) (Gizmodo)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint, Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 309: Vaporized

May 20, 2019 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Game of Thrones may be over on HBO, but El Kaiser and J.D are still here talking tech, pop culture and everything else in between. This week’s episode ponders the blacklist effect on Chinese telecom company Huawei and potential problems with accurate weather forecasting because satellites measure water vapor in the 23.8 GHz band on the wireless spectrum and the Federal Communications Commission is selling off adjacent frequencies. J.D. also has a suggestion for parents who need a project for their bored kids. All this and more, right here on Episode 309!

Links to News Stories on This Week’s Episode

Exclusive: Google suspends some business with Huawei after Trump blacklist (Reuters)
Trump Huawei Ban Ripples Across Industry as Supplies Halted (Bloomberg)
Snapchat’s new gender-changing filter provokes strong reactions (Axios)
Kissing Babies, Loving Scrapple, Fighting Viral Hoaxes: ’20 Race’s New Routine (The New York Times)
Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 drops to $999 and adds Qualcomm’s XR1 (VentureBeat)
Microsoft’s Edge for Mac browser now available in preview (The Verge)
Your 5G Phone Won’t Hurt You. But Russia Wants You to Think Otherwise. (The New York Times)
5G Networks Could Throw Weather Forecasting Into Chaos (WIRED)
Twitch Streamers Are Getting Paid $50,000 An Hour To Play New Games: They Deserve It (Forbes)
Tim Cook visits Ellis Marsalis Music Center in New Orleans (9to5Mac)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint: Give Your Kids A Movie-Making Project

How to Add Hollywood Special Effects to Your Videos (The New York Times)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint, Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 296: “Ring Out the False, Ring In the True!”

December 28, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

As 2018 comes clanging to a close. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss Amazon’s healthy holiday sales, Instagram’s effects on people, Snapchat’s “dog lenses” and a new essay that wonders just how much of the Internet is real anymore. And in the last (Hopefully) Helpful Hint of the year, J.D. offers a guide for preserving your one-of-a-kind family photographs and slides in the digital realm.
Ring up Episode 296, right here!

Links to Stories on This Week’s Show

Amazon’s Record Holiday Shows Consumers’ Spending Splurge (Bloomberg)
How Instagram has been good for independent bookstores like Books Are Magic and the Last Bookstore (Vox)
Instagram Apologizes for Horizontal-Scrolling Test Glitch, Rolls It Back After Quick and Furious Backlash (Variety)
Android TV sees huge growth thanks to 100 pay TV partners (9to5Google)
Apple’s Future Looks Rotten (Gizmodo)
Patreon Bars Anti-Feminist for Racist Speech, Inciting Revolt (The New York Times)
Snapchat Adds Dog Lenses, But I Still Won’t Use It (Gizmodo)
How Much of the Internet Is Fake? (New York magazine)
We finally started taking screen time seriously in 2018 (TechCrunch)
Hot tub hack reveals washed-up security (BBC News)
“Ring out, wild bells,” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint: Digitize and Fix Your Ancient Photos

How to Rescue, Repair and Revive Old Family Photos (The New York Times)
Printers & Scanners (Wirecutter)
Google PhotoScan
Adobe Photoshop Fix

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 269: Flying Solo

April 11, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer 3 Comments

Mark Zuckerberg lands in the Congressional hot seat this week over Facebook’s role in user privacy protection and the social network’s influence on life, culture and election interference. After a march through the current tech headlines with J.D., El Kaiser has a roundup review of earplugs for those times when you need to screen out all that infernal noise around you. Jump into Episode 269 to hear for yourself!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Show

Mark Zuckerberg Prepares to Testify as Extent of Data Harvesting Widens (The New York Times)
Hearing Before The United States House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce: Mark Zuckerberg Testimony (House.gov)
Zuckerberg to meet with U.S. lawmakers Monday: sources (Reuters)
Zuckerberg Gets a Crash Course in Charm. Will Congress Care? (The New York Times)
Why Mark Zuckerberg’s 14-Year Apology Tour Hasn’t Fixed Facebook (Wired)
Facebook: Cambridge Analytica warning sent to users (BBC News)
Facebook Launches New Initiative to Help Scholars Assess Social Media’s Impact on Elections (Facebook Newsroom)
(How) Will Facebook Self-Regulate “Issue Ads” Intended to Affect U.S. Elections? The Details Matter a Lot (Election Law Blog)
Facebook could face record fine, say former FTC officials (The Washington Post)
Facebook sent a doctor on a secret mission to ask hospitals to share patient data (CNBC)
First look at Instagram Nametags, its clone of Snapchat QR codes (TechCrunch)
Instagram Looks Like Facebook’s Best Hope (Bloomberg)
YouTube may be illegally collecting kids’ data (MIT Technology Review)
Twitter Bots: An Analysis of Automated Accounts and the Links They Share (Pew Research Center)
Launching today: new collaborative study to diminish abuse on Twitter (Medium)
‘The Business of War’: Google Employees Protest Work for the Pentagon (The New York Times)
Solo: A Star Wars Story trailer

El Kaiser’s Earplug Roundup

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 267: Facebork

March 20, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

As The Social Network once again finds itself in the hot seat over user privacy, El Kaiser and J.D. ponder the big picture and Facebook’s effect on civic affairs. After the weekly roundup of tech news, this week’s episode also features some very special guests — and not all of them are chatbots. Fasten your seatbelt and climb aboard Episode 267!

Links to Stories in This Week’s News Segment

How Trump Consultants Exploited the Facebook Data of Millions (The New York Times)
Here’s how Facebook allowed Cambridge Analytica to get data for 50 million users (Recode)
Suspending Cambridge Analytica and SCL Group from Facebook (Facebook)
Pursuing Forensic Audits to Investigate Cambridge Analytica Claims (Facebook)
Whistleblower: Facebook Suspended Me for Exposing Cambridge Analytica (The Daily Beast)
Cambridge Analytica, the shady data firm that might be a key Trump-Russia link, explained (Vox)
U.S. and British lawmakers demand answers from Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg (The Washington Post)
Facebook may have violated FTC privacy deal, say former federal officials, triggering risk of massive fines (The Washington Post)
Massachusetts AG to investigate Facebook, Cambridge Analytica (CNN)
Facebook and the endless string of worst-case scenarios (TechCrunch)
YouTube suggested conspiracy videos to children using its Kids app (Business Insider)
YouTube didn’t tell Wikipedia about its plans for Wikipedia (The Verge)
YouTube Will Link Directly to Wikipedia to Fight Conspiracy Theories (Wired)
The @Wikimedia Foundation statement about the recent @YouTube announcement (via Twitter)
Apple to Host March 27 Event in Chicago: ‘Creative New Ideas for Teachers and Students‘ (Mac Rumors)
NBC News plans online streaming service to attract younger viewers (Reuters)
Twitter working on Snap Discover competitor with location-based snaps (CNBC)
Snapchat’s Stock Sinks After Rihanna Denounces Domestic Violence Ad (NPR)
The real world as your playground: Build real-world games with Google Maps APIs (Google Geo Developers Blog)
Google is opening up Maps so game developers can create the next Pokémon Go (The Verge)
Financial Services: New restricted financial products policy / June 2018 (Google)
Google banning cryptocurrency-related advertising (CBNC)
Stephen Hawking: Tributes pour in for ‘inspirational’ physicist (BBC News)
Stephen Hawking’s Star Trek Cameo Remains Historic—and Delightful (Vanity Fair)
Stephen Hawking leaves behind ‘breathtaking’ final multiverse theory (The Daily Telegraph)

Chatbots

What can your Assistant do? (Google)
Google Assistant chatbots (Google)
Alexa bots (Amazon)
Cyber Argument chatbot script app for fights between Alexa and Google Assistant (Google)
See Bots Chat (YouTube)

(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)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 245: Blasts From the Past

August 16, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

You have your good history and you have your bad history — and both kinds are mashed up here this week on Pop Tech Jam. The violent protests in Charlottesville last weekend were amplified in all directions thanks to social media and the technology industry finds itself entwined with current events, as El Kaiser and J.D. discuss. A few other headlines from the tech world managed to get attention as well. But at the end of the day, if you just want to curl up and spend some of your free time in a happy place, the Internet Archive has some new treats to explore. Peace out, Jammers. We’ll be back in September.

Links to Stories in This Week’s Episode

Google Domains, GoDaddy blacklist white supremacist site Daily Stormer (Ars Technica)
Google cancels domain registration for Daily Stormer (Business Insider)
Did Anonymous bring down The Daily Stormer? (Snopes)
Yes, You’re Racist: Twitter user names Virginia protesters (CNet)
Discord shuts down alt-right server and accounts for ToS violations (TechCrunch)
Charlottesville is reshaping the fight against online hate (The Verge)
‘March on Google’ releases code of conduct after Charlottesville violence (The Hill)
March on Google
In J20 Investigation, DOJ overreaches again. And gets taken to court again. (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
We Fight for the Users (DreamHost)
U.S. judge says LinkedIn cannot block startup from public profile data (Reuters)
Facebook adds a link to Trending News in the app’s main menu (Engadget)
Upcoming changes of Opera Max (Opera blog)
Snapchat’s newest feature is a game changer for concerts (Mashable)
KGI: Apple Watch 3 to come in LTE and non-LTE models, no obvious form factor change (9to5Mac)
Need something extra fast? Amazon Instant Pickup launches this week (Amazon)
A ginger haired emoji is coming to a phone near you soon (BBC News)
Galaxy Magazine collection at the Internet Archive (Internet Archive)
Philly company digitizes 25,000 old records and they’re free to download (Newsworks)
78rpm Records Digitized by George Blood, L.P. (Internet Archive)
The Great 78 Project (Internet Archive)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 235: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

May 20, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Journalist Laura M. Holson is back in the house this week with a discussion of how the cosmetics superstore Sephora is using technology and social interaction to sell beauty products. On the opposite side beauty, though, is the ugly — and last week’s massive global ransomware outbreak even got into fugly territory. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the attack and the other notable news bits of recent days in this jam-packed episode of Pop Tech Jam.

Links to Stories Mentioned on This Week’s Show

In computer attacks, clues point to frequent culprit: North Korea (The New York Times)
Ransomware’s aftershocks feared as U.S. warns of complexity (The New York Times)
‘Accidental hero’ halts ransomware attack and warns: this is not over (The Guardian)
The WannaCry ransomware hackers made some real amateur mistakes (Wired)
The need for urgent collective action to keep people safe online: Lessons from last week’s cyberattack (Microsoft on the Issues)
HTC wants you to squeeze its new phone (The Verge)
Snap unveils new camera ads trying to stay ahead of Facebook (Bloomberg)
Instagram launches selfie filters, copying the last big Snapchat feature (TechCrunch)
Nintendo developing ‘The Legend of Zelda’ smartphone game (The Wall Street Journal)
Latest update brings new features to Google Home (AndroidHeadlines)
Apple plans laptop upgrades to take on Microsoft (Bloomberg)
The MP3 is officially dead, according to its creators (The Record : NPR)
Your MP3s are going to be just fine (The Washington Post)
How Sephora is thriving amid a retail crisis (The New York Times)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 234: Winging It

May 12, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Facebook scrambles to blunt the effects of fake news on the United Kingdom’s upcoming election, John Oliver and his fans have suggestions for the Federal Communications Commission, Amazon’s been busy and could a fried-chicken sandwich be headed for space? El Kaiser and J.D. chew through this week’s headlines and Don Donofrio drops by with an Apple status update. All this and more on Episode 234 of Pop Tech Jam!

Links to Stories in This Week’s News Segment

Facebook aims to tackle fake news ahead of U.K. election (The New York Times)
Facebook publishes fake news ads in UK papers (BBC News)
Austrian court rules Facebook must delete ‘hate postings’ (Reuters)
John Oliver just crashed the FCC’s website over Net Neutrality—again (Motherboard)
The FCC says an attack — not John Oliver — hampered its website (The Washington Post)
You can now upload Instagram photos from its mobile website (The Verge)
Limitless Snaps (Snapchat blog)
Amazon unveils the $230 Echo Show, with a screen for calls, shipping June 28 (TechCrunch)
Amazon to control 70 percent of the voice-controlled speaker market this year (TechCrunch)
Amazon’s Echo family can now make calls and send messages (Engadget)
Alexa Calling (Amazon)
Harman Kardon Invoke featuring Cortana (Windows Experience)
HARMAN Reveals the Harman Kardon Invoke™ Intelligent Speaker with Cortana from Microsoft (Harman Kardon pressroom)
Tender Wings of Desire (Amazon ebook)
As KFC promises to launch sandwich into space, Rob Lowe stars as the new Colonel Sanders (CNBC)

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!