Universe Today | POP | TECH

After a tumultuous year that saw the sad passing of actress and author Carrie Fisher (as well as Kenny Baker) the year 2017 has arrived. And so, coincidentally, is Episode 217 of Pop Tech Jam.

On this week’s show, El Kaiser and J.D. discuss some early announcements out of the Consumer Electronics Show, what Facebook’s been up to lately and explore suggestions to the Twitter’s CEO about improving the bird-themed microblogging service.

J.D. also has a (Hopefully) Helpful Hint about watching the skies. While you’re looking up, raise a glass to the memories of the actors that brought Princess Leia and R2-D2 to life all those years ago. They will be with us, always.

Links to Stories in This Week’s Episode

HBO moves up debut of Debbie Reynolds-Carrie Fisher documentary ‘Bright Lights’ to Jan. 7 (Los Angeles Times)
Raising the IQ of today’s smart home (Lenovo blog)
DISH and Amazon deliver Alexa voice control on Hopper DVR (Businesswire)
Alexa, start the washer: Whirlpool makes it possible at CES (CNET)
Seiki, Westinghouse Electronics and Element Electronics introduce the first line of 4K Ultra HD Smart TVs with Amazon Fire TV (PR Newswire)
Facebook & Google dominate the list of 2016’s top apps (TechCrunch)
Facebook developing Copyright ID system to stem music rights infringement (Billboard)
Facebook doesn’t tell users everything it really knows about them (ProPublica)
How does Facebook work with data providers? (Facebook)
Luggage tag code unlocks your flights, identity to hackers (PCmag.com)
Elon Musk’s SpaceX says it has found cause of rocket explosion and plans to fly again Sunday (The Washington Post)
French workers win legal right to avoid checking work email out-of-hours (The Guardian)
17 for ’17: Microsoft researchers on what to expect in 2017 and 2027 (Next at Microsoft)
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey asks Twitter for help with his two jobs (Mashable)
Jack Dorsey tweet (Twitter)
A billion dollar gift for Twitter (Startup Grind | Medium)
Japanese restrooms offer special toilet paper for wiping phones (The Huffington Post)

Here at Pop Tech Jam, we love space and we love free stuff. If you, too, love these things, visit the Universe Today astronomy blog, which has just released a free ebook called 101 Astronomical Events for 2017 by David A. Dickinson.

The ebook is more than 200 pages long, and nicely illustrated with photos and charts. It explains all the predictable things that are going to happen in the next 12 months with the stars, planets and other celestial objects. Mr. Dickinson is a teacher, an amateur astronomer and author who has been writing and blogging about activities Out There for years.

Meteor showers, planetary conjunctions, eclipses and other happenings are covered in 101 Astronomical Events for 2017. If you want to keep up on missions and other man-made interactions in space, though, bookmark the NASA site with its various mission pages, the Watch the Skies blog and also, the European Space Agency’s site for great photos and other interesting forays into the Final Frontier.

Tag Archives: Universe Today

PTJ 217: She’ll Always Be Royalty to Us

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint: Free Space

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