Tag Archives: Star Wars

PTJ 364: Yo! Can We Get a Little Help Here, Obi-Wan Kenobi?

June 2, 2022 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

June is here, and with it, the old-new adventures of a certain Jedi Master — and plenty of other fine programs to stream. El Kaiser and J.D. also mull recent tech news, and, for the audio-curious, El Kaiser discusses the digital audience interfaces he uses in his recording work. You can find it all here on PTJ 364!

OBI-101: Everything You Need to Know About Obi-Wan Kenobi (StarWars.com)
Obi-Wan Kenobi (Disney+)
Russian Doll (Netflix)
Elon Musk Is Right to Pay Far Less for Twitter, E xperts Say (Business Insider)
Twitter shareh old ers s ue Elon Musk and Twitter over chaotic deal (CNBC)
SEC looms over Musk-Twitter deal (The Hill)
Elon Musk to Workers: Spend 40 Hours in the Office, or Els e (The New York Times)
Twitter fined $150m in US for selling users’ data (BBC News)
Twitter to pay $150 million penalty for allegedly breaking its privacy promises – again (Federal Trade Commission)
PSVR 2 may release in early 2023 — ‘depending’ on game development (Laptop Mag)
Apple’s RealityOS for rumored headset appears in trademark application (The Verge)
What’s Coming in Apple (AAPL) iOS 16? Is iPhone 14 Getting an Always-On Screen? (Bloomberg)
Apple can’t dodge rival app store Cydia’s antitrust lawsuit (Reuters)
Google I/O 2022 Live Blog (CNet)
Google Translate Glass es (YouTube)
Google TV’s new app launches on the iOS App Store with the ability to use a mobile device as a remote (TechCrunch)
Google is combining Meet and Duo into a single app for voice and video calls (The Verge)
Sheryl Sandberg Is Leaving Facebook at a Perilous Moment (Bloomberg)
Amazon to pull Kindle out of China, other businesses to remain (Reuters)
Amazon is launching an invite-based ordering option, starting with the PS5 and Xbox Serie s X (TechCrunch)
This double-bladed lightsaber measures 6.5 feet long and costs $500 (The Verge)
“Star Wars” The Black Series Third Sister Reva Lightsaber (Hasbro)
RØDE AI-1
Focusrite Scarlett Solo
F ocusrite Scarlett 2i2

Episode Links

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 342: Summer Grilling

August 4, 2020 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

The recent weather across much of North American isn’t the only thing that’s been a little toasty — TikTok, Big Tech and the kids who hacked Twitter last month are also feeling the heat. El Kaiser and J.D. take in the latest headlines from the technology world and also offer more tips for entertaining yourself in a partially closed pandemic city. Come join us here on PTJ 342!

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Returns On Disney+ (StarWars.com)
Star Wars: The Bad Batch is a new Clone Wars spinoff coming to Disney Plus in 2021 (The Verge)
Microsoft to continue discussions on potential TikTok purchase in the United States (Microsoft blog)
With TikTok, ‘Uncool’ Microsoft Aims for the Love of Tweens (The New York Times)
Florida Teenager Is Charged as ‘Mastermind’ of Twitter Hack (The New York Times)
Three Individuals Charged For Alleged Roles In Twitter Hack (Department of Justice)
Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google grilled on Capitol Hill over their market power (The Washington Post)
New Pixels—and new prices—are here (Google Keyword blog)
Google Pixel 4A Review: At $350, a Win for Those on a Budget (The New York Times)
A partnership with ADT for smarter home security (Google Keyword blog)
More Than 1,000 Companies Boycotted Facebook. Did It Work? (The New York Times)
Is Your Chip Card Secure? Much Depends on Where You Bank (Krebs on Security)
Instagram morphs into an information powerhouse (Axios)
‘An Incredible Day’: Splashdown Concludes NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 (NASA)
NASA, ULA Launch Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Mission to Red Planet (NASA)
The Official Guide to New York City (NYCgo.com)
Self-Guided Walking Tours of NYC (FreeToursByFoot.com)
Self-Guided Walking Tours (GPSMyCity.com)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 325: Fan Dance

January 27, 2020 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

On this week’s show, El Kaiser holds forth on the current state of three of his favorite things: DC Comics, Doctor Who and Star Wars. J.D. has a quick roundup of recent tech news, including the return both of a beloved flip phone and a popular short-form video platform. All this and more on Pop Tech Jam 325!

“Crisis on Infinite Earths” (DC Universe)
Crises on Infinite Earths (CW Crossover)
US mobile app subscription revenue jumped 21% in 2019 to $4.6B across the top 100 apps (TechCrunch)
ABC News to bolster streaming service with live programming (Associated Press)
Apple TV+ May Have Over 33M Users But ‘Vast Majority’ Aren’t Paying (Variety)
Apple TV+ numbers: Bigger than Disney+ and Hulu, behind Amazon and Netflix (Loop Insight)
Netflix’s New Ratings Math Sacrifices Clarity for Flashy Numbers (Hollywood Reporter)
Will the new Motorola Razr fly — or flop? (Tom’s Guide)
Galaxy Z Flip has a tiny outer display, fingerprint scanner (9to5Google)
An AI Epidemiologist Sent the First Warnings of the Wuhan Virus (WIRED)
Vine Has a New Successor: The 6-Second Video App Byte (Time)
Today in History 1921: The word ‘Robot’ enters the English language (Boing Boing)
Doctor Who
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 276: Game On!

June 18, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

A judge cleared the way for AT&T and Time Warner to merge, Apple plans to reinforce its iPhone security, Microsoft made a bunch of announcements — but hey, here comes the annual E3 event to bring in the fun. El Kaiser and J.D. sort through it all before a discussion about the VPNFilter malware — you know, that one the FBI was warning about the other week — and how to protect your router from it. Spin up PTJ 276 to hear it all!

DOJ Won’t Seek to Halt AT&T-Time Warner Merger Pending Any Appeal (Variety)
AT&T Closes Acquisition of Time Warner (The New York Times)
Net neutrality died today as FCC’s vote to repeal rules goes into effect (PC Gamer)
Comcast, AT&T, Verizon say they have no paid prioritization plans (Ars Technica)
SB-822 Communications: broadband Internet access service (California Legislative Information)
Apple to Close iPhone Security Hole That Police Use to Crack Devices (The New York Times)
Microsoft’s next-gen gaming plan: A new Xbox, and streaming for everyone else (Ars Technica)
Power and simplicity—updates to the Office 365 user experience (Microsoft 365 Blog)
Microsoft opens Office 2019 for Mac business preview (Engadget)
Over 100 UK tech leaders back new call for a people’s vote on Brexit (TechCrunch)
Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2018 (Reuters Institute)
See What’s Happening! (Twitter blog)
Exclusive: Microsoft takes aim at Amazon with push for checkout-free retail (Reuters)
John Boyega calls out Star Wars fans after harassment controversy (Polygon)
PC Gaming Show E3 2018: Everything and the kitchen sink (Ars Technica)
Announcing 2018-2019 Fortnite Competitive Season (Epic Games)
‘Skyrim: Very Special Edition’ with Alexa is not a joke, game arrives on Amazon Echo (Business Insider)
“Skyrim” for Amazon Alexa (Amazon)
“Skyrim: A Very Special Edition” (YouTube)

Reset Your Router

Your Wi-Fi Security Is Probably Weak. Here’s How to Fix That. (The New York Times)
VPNFilter exploits endpoints, targets new devices (Cisco Talos)
Justice Department Announces Actions to Disrupt Advanced Persistent Threat 28 Botnet of Infected Routers and Network Storage Devices (US Department of Justice)
Foreign Cyber Actors Target Home And Office Routers And Networked Devices Worldwide (FBI Public Service Announcement)
VPNFilter Destructive Malware (US-CERT)
Cisco Talos VPN Filter malware findings (UK National Cyber Security Centre)
VPNFilter router malware is a lot worse than everyone thought (The Register)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 272: Foiled Again!

May 13, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

This past week saw two big developer conferences unload several boxes of announcements, as Google I/O and Microsoft Build fought for media attention like Godzilla vs. Gamera. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the ramped-up interest in artificial intelligence coming out of both conferences, along with other headlines from around the technosphere. J.D. also offers suggestions for dealing with an excess of emoji, and previews new characters under consideration by the Unicode Consortium. Come sit a spell and join us for Episode 272!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Episode

Everything Google announced at its 2018 I/O developers conference (Quartz)
Make Google Do It… And Then What? (BuzzFeed)
Build 2018 key takeaways: 10 most important announcements from Microsoft’s big developer conference (GeekWire)
Critical Windows bug fixed today is actively being exploited to hack users (Ars Technica)
Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17666 (Windows Experience Blog)
Customers can experience first-hand the convenience of the Alexa smart home experience and more in a real home environment (Amazon Press Room)
U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao Announces Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot Program Selectees (US Department of Transportation)
Squirrel Is a New App That’s Just Like Slack but Made by Yahoo, and We’ll Leave It at That (Gizmodo)
Yahoo just released a group chat app called Squirrel (Android Police)
Introducing Tour Creator (Google blog)
Apple cracking down on applications that send location data to third-parties (9to5Mac.com)
Apple Plans to Sell Video Subscriptions Through TV App (Bloomberg)
FCC says ‘net neutrality’ rules will end on June 11 (Reuters)
Russia’s 2016 Facebook Strategy Exposed in Trove of 3,500 Ads (Bloomberg)
Exposing Russia’s Effort to Sow Discord Online: The Internet Research Agency and Advertisements (House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence)
Full Solo Soundtrack List Hints at What the Movie Is Really About (MovieWeb)

Emoji World

The Unicode Consortium
Overcome With Emoji (The New York Times)
157 New Emojis in the 2018 Emoji List (Emojipedia)
Draft Emoji Candidates (Unicode Consortium)

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

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint, Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 261: DISCOVERIES

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

On this week’s episode. El Kaiser shares his thoughts after a binge of Star Trek: Discovery and J.D. explores a new way to find things that interest you on Instagram. A roundup of the week’s tech news includes a discussion of Twitter’s fake-followers problem, Amazon looking for new ways to provide employee healthcare and Google’s attempts to root out — and boot out — bad apps from its online Android store. All this AND porgs on Episode 261 of PopTech Jam!

Links to Stories Mentioned On This Week’s Show

Twitter Followers Vanish Amid Inquiries Into Fake Accounts (The New York Times)
The Follower Factory (The New York Times)
Twitter Doubles The Amount Of People It Says Interacted With Kremlin-Linked Trolls (Buzzfeed)
Amazon, Berkshire and JPMorgan Chase to partner on health care (CNBC)
Windows Defender to start removing “optimizer” scareware (Ars Technica)
California Senate defies FCC, approves net neutrality law (Ars Technica)
Samsung enters crypto-currency chips business (BBC News)
U.S. Probes Apple Over Updates That Slow Older iPhones (Bloomberg)
Podcast Listeners Really Are the Holy Grail Advertisers Hoped They’d Be (Wired)
Get help with cheaper flights and potential flight delays this winter (Google blog)
How we fought bad apps and malicious developers in 2017 (Android Developers blog)
Google backs ‘universal stylus’ campaign (BBC News)
A reintroduction to Google’s featured snippets (Google Keyword blog)
Facebook Really Wants You to Come Back (Bloomberg)
Facebook Aims to Soothe Wall Street Over News Feed Changes (The New York Times)
Nintendo Switch overtakes the Wii U (BBC)
The Official Star Wars app (StarWars.com)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

Following Along on Instagram (The New York Times)

(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 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)

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!