Tag Archives: work from home

PTJ 355: The Empire Hacks Back

June 7, 2021 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

In this week’s episode of Pop Tech Jam, El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the headlines from the world of tech, including the U.S. government’s own Bitcoin grab as it claws back the Colonial Pipeline ransom. El Kaiser would like Batman to have at least one nice day and J.D. ambles through the major announcements from this year’s Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference. Just push play to hear it all on PTJ 355!

Batman: Rebirth (DC Comics)
Justice Dept. says it recovered most of the ransom paid after the Colonial Pipeline cyber attack. (The New York Times)
Colonial Pipeline Cyber Attack: Hackers Used Compromised Password (Bloomberg)
Apple employees push back against returning to the office in internal letter (The Verge)
G7: Rich nations back deal to tax multinationals (BBC News)
G7 tax deal: Amazon, Google and Facebook respond (CNBC)
Google fined by France for abusing online advertising position (CNBC)
Facebook’s Marketplace Faces Antitrust Probes in EU, U.K. (WSJ)
In Response to Oversight Board, Trump Suspended for Two Years; Will Only Be Reinstated if Conditions Permit (About Facebook)
Apple pays out millions in compensation to student after iPhone repair facility shared her explicit personal images online (9to5Mac)
Jeff Bezos is going to space on first crewed flight of rocket (CNN)
Apple WWDC 2021 Keynote
iOS 15 Highlights (Apple Newsroom)
macOS Monterey Preview (Apple Newsroom)
watchOS 8 Announcement (Apple Newsroom)
iPadOS 15 Features (Apple Newsroom)

Episode Links

PTJ 337: Pod People

May 23, 2020 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Are podcasts The Next Big Thing — again? With Spotify, Amazon and Apple all scrapping to get big names and fresh content while throwing around big money, it sure seems like something’s going on. After El Kaiser and J.D. roll through the rest of the week’s headlines, El Kaiser also offers a few suggestions for remote podcasting software. It’s all right here in PTJ 337 from the comfort of your own home!

Links to News Stories on This Week’s Show

“She-Ra and the Princesses of Power” (DreamWorks)
“She-Ra and the Princesses of Power”(Watch on Netflix)
Privacy-Preserving Contact Tracing (Apple-Google)
Apple and Google launch coronavirus exposure software (The Washington Post)
Mark Zuckerberg: Half of Facebook may work remotely by 2030 (NBC News)
Facebook to Limit Offices to 25% Capacity, Require Masks at Work (Bloomberg)
Preventing Unwanted Contacts and Scams in Messenger (Messenger News)
Twitter is testing a feature that limits who can reply to your tweets (TechCrunch)
Accessibility updates that help tech work for everyone (Google Keyword blog)
Amazon pushes Prime Day to September as it returns to normalcy: WSJ (Reuters)
The podcasting world is now Spotify versus everybody else (The Verge)
Amazon’s Audible Goes Beyond Books to Chase Spotify in Podcasts (Bloomberg)
Apple Ramps Up Original Podcasts, in Part to Help Promote TV+ (Bloomberg)
Chrome 83 arrives with redesigned security settings, third-party cookies blocked in Incognito (VentureBeat)
Protecting against resource-heavy ads in Chrome (Chromium blog)
Apple Buys Older Shows for TV+, Stepping Up Netflix Challenge (Bloomberg)
Helping members who haven’t been watching cancel (Netflix)

VoIP Podcasting Apps

Episode Links

PTJ 336: Slice of Life

May 16, 2020 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Thinking of spending some of your inside time recording a podcast or your own music? After a tour through the week’s technology headlines with J.D., El Kaiser offers some shopping tips on microphones that make you sound way better than the one built into your laptop. Just click the Play button to hear it all on PTJ 336 — starting with a suggestion for another binge-worthy show to pass the time in the Quarantine Life.

Links to Stories in This Week’s News Segment

Community (NBC)
The 15 best episodes of Community (EW.com)
Community Cast — Including Donald Glover — to Reunite for Virtual Table Read (Variety)
TikTok Broke Privacy Promises, Children’s Groups Say (The New York Times)
Your Second First Trip (Uber Newsroom)
Google removed 813 creepware apps from the Android Play Store (ZDNet)
The Many Kinds of Creepware Used for Interpersonal Attacks (Semantic Scholar)
Merkley, Colleagues Continue to Lead Charge to Protect Consumers from Internet Shut-Offs During Pandemic (Jeff Merkley)
Keeping our employees and partners safe during #coronavirus (Twitter)
Apple Plans to Return More Staff to Offices in Break From Rivals (Bloomberg)
Organize your tabs with tab groups in Google Chrome (Keyword blog)
Protecting against resource-heavy ads in Chrome (Chromium Blog)
A first look at Unreal Engine 5 (Unreal Engine)
PlayStation 5 will launch in 2020 holiday season despite coronavirus: Sony (CNBC)
Facebook to pay $52m to content moderators over PTSD (BBC News)
Jeffrey Katzenberg Blames Pandemic for Quibi’s Rough Start (The New York Times)
‘Hamilton’ coming to Disney+ in July (CNN)
Slice raised $43M in Series C funding to power local pizza (Slice Pizza Blog)

Shopping for Microphones

Episode Links

PTJ 329: Root, Root, Root for the Home Team

March 22, 2020 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

As more states and cities tell citizens to stay out of public places and do their part to help stop the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, El Kaiser and J.D. fire up the microphones in their respective recording bunkers to discuss the latest tech news. El Kaiser also offers his pro tips for looking and sounding better on those office video-conference meetings, and J.D. has a few ideas for parents trying to keep the kids busy after they’ve finished their online lessons for the day. It’s all here on PTJ 329 — right in the comfort of your own home!

Links to Stories in This Week’s Episode

Google’s coronavirus website finally launches alongside enhanced search results (The Verge)
Google’s COVID-19 information page
Delivering information and eliminating bottlenecks with CDC’s COVID-19 assessment bot (The Official Microsoft Blog)
Apple updated Siri to help people who ask if they have coronavirus (CNBC)
Internal memo: Jeff Bezos tells Amazon employees he’s ‘wholly focused’ on the COVID-19 crisis (GeekWire)
A message from our CEO and founder (Amazon)
Netflix to Cut Streaming Video Bit Rates in Europe for 30 Days (Variety)
Mass move to work from home in coronavirus crisis creates opening for hackers: cyber experts (Reuters)
How Zoom Became King of the Quarantine Economy (Adweek)
‘Zoombombing’: When Video Conferences Go Wrong (The New York Times)
Emergency Support for Workers in the Creative Community (Netflix)
Exclusive: Amazon raises overtime pay for warehouse workers (Reuters)
New MacBook Air has more to love and is now just $999 (Apple)
Apple unveils new iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support in iPadOS (Apple)
Believe it: Orchestra plays Beethoven 9th from their homes (Slipped Disc)
Must Watch: Toronto vs Rotterdam in The Home-Play Finals (Slipped Disc)

#StayHome Projects to Keep You (or the Kids) Busy

Make Your Own Animated Movies, Frame by Frame (The New York Times)
How to Add Hollywood Special Effects to Your Videos (The New York Times)
How to Take Music Lessons Whenever (and Wherever) Works for You (The New York Times)
How to Rescue, Repair and Revive Old Family Photos (The New York Times)
Can You Draw This? Of Course You Can! (The New York Times)
From Camera Roll to Canvas: Make Art From Your Photos (The New York Times)
Get Those Records, Tapes and CDs Onto Your Smartphone (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!