September | 2018 | POP | TECH

If it’s September, Apple has a new iPhone to sell you. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss this year’s crop of gear, along with news from FitBit, Amazon and GoPro. And, as election season looms closer, J.D. has some advice and links for those who see misinformation on social-media sites and want to stop it from spreading. Buckle up for Episode 287, y’all!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’ s Show

The iPhone XS and XS Max Review: Big Screens That Are a Delight to Use (The New York Times)
Apple Watch Series 4 Review: A Big Step for Wearable Gadgets (The New York Times)
Fitbit Launches Fitbit Care, A Powerful New Enterprise Health Platform for Wellness and Prevention and Disease Management (FitBit Investor News)
Another Victim of the Magecart Assault Emerges: Newegg (RiskIQ)
Expanding Emergency Location Service in Android to the U.S. (Google Keyword blog)
Code in iOS 12.1 beta hints at Memoji syncing over iCloud, references ‘iPad2018Fall’ (AppleInsider)
Chrome Releases: Stable Channel Update for Chrome OS (Google blog)
Twitter Lets Users Switch to a Chronological Feed (Search Engine Journal)
The 14 biggest announcements from Amazon’s surprise hardware event (The Verge)
Amazon Said to Plan Up to 3,000 Cashierless Stores by 2021 (Bloomberg)
GoPro’s Hero 7 Black sets a new bar for video stabilization (The Verge)
Official YouTube Blog: Gaming gets a new home on YouTube (YouTube blog)
Introducing PlayStation Classic, with 20 Pre-Loaded Games (PlayStation.Blog)

Help Stomp Out Fake News

How do I mark a post as false news? (Facebook Help)
Report violations (Twitter)
Report inappropriate content (YouTube)
Statistics & Facts about Fake News (Statista)
Inside Facebook’s Election ‘War Room’ (The New York Times)
If You See Disinformation Ahead of the Midterms, We Want to Hear From You (The New York Times)
Facebook’s attempts to fight fake news seem to be working. (Twitter’s? Not so much.) (Nieman Lab)

Hot times were had on Capitol Hill at the Senate and House hearings with leaders of Facebook and Twitter — but not with Google, which declined the invitation to come testify about such things as election influencing and political bias on its platform. El Kaiser and J.D. also discuss Apple’s new global portal for law enforcement pros, Amazon’s new tablet and a new study from the Pew Internet Research Center about how people’s feelings have changed about a certain Social Network over the past year. This week’s show also includes a highlight tour of some of the more popular features in Google’s Android 9.0 (Pie) system and Apple’s iOS 12. Jump into Episode 286 now!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Episode

Twitter: Transparency and Accountability (House Energy and Commerce Committee)
Senate Intelligence Committee: Foreign Influence and Social Media (C-SPAN)
Facebook and Twitter Have a Message for Lawmakers: We’re Trying. (The New York Times)
Facebook and Twitter testify before Congress. Alex Jones lurks behind. (The Washington Post)
Twitter bans Alex Jones and InfoWars (CNN)
Twitter’s shadow banning bug ‘unfairly filtered’ 600,000 accounts (Engadget)
Justice Dept. says social media giants may be ‘intentionally stifling’ free speech (TechCrunch)
Twitter is testing a major redesign of its desktop website (ThisIsInsider)
Google’s Empty Chair at Senate Marks Unforced Error in D.C. (Bloomberg)
Google sets October 9th for the Pixel 3 unveiling (Ars Technica)
Making it easier to discover datasets (Google Keyword blog)
Latest information| Data Theft (British Airways)
Apple to Launch a Global Law Enforcement Web Portal to Streamline Data Requests by End of 2018 [Updated] (Mac Rumors)
Meet Nico and Veronica (Snap Inc.)
Amazon Fire HD 8 Tablet (Amazon Press Room)
Bernie Sanders introduces the BEZOS Act slamming Amazon low wages (CNBC)
Many US Facebook users have changed privacy settings or taken a break (Pew Research Center)

New Mobile Operating Systems

iOS 12 Preview (Apple)
Apple iOS 12: the biggest new features coming to the iPhone (TheVerge)
Android Pie (Google)
What You Need to Know About Android 9 Pie (Techlicious)

While the tussles between politicians and Big Tech heat up as August sizzles to a close, El Kaiser and J.D. sip fizzy water in the shade and explore the accusations and rebuttals coming from both sides of America’s political divide. Apple’s latest acquisition, Twitter’s recent experiment and a blockchain that few people realized was hiding in plain sight are also in the news mix this week, and J.D. has a (Hopefully) Helpful Hint about hopefully helping friends and family with their computer problems, even when you’re miles away. Crank up the air conditioner and PTJ 285!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Show

Trump slams Google search as ‘rigged’ — but it’s not (CNN Tech)
Trump’s new fake news: fake social media (Axios)
Trump Claims Google Didn’t Promote His State Of The Union. Google And This Screenshot Say Otherwise. (BuzzFeed)
Google Denies Donald Trump’s Claims Of Left-Wing Bias: “Search Is Not Used To Set A Political Agenda” – Update (Deadline)
Why Google Doesn’t Rank Right-Wing Outlets Highly (The Atlantic)
Trolls propel Trump to top Google ratings for ‘idiot’ (Search Engine Land)
Googlebombing ‘failure’ (Google keyword blog)
Opinion | Trump’s Ludicrous Attack on Big Tech (The New York Times)
Inside Facebook, a Conservative Backlash Against the Liberal “Mobs” (Vanity Fair)
Google, Facebook, Twitter chiefs called back to Senate Intelligence Committee (TechCrunch)
Trump unblocks more Twitter users after U.S. court ruling (Reuters)
Trump Gets Googlebombed In Google Images As Idiot (Search Engine Roundtable)
Facebook Watch Is Going Global (Facebook Newsroom)
Twitter is testing suggestions of accounts to unfollow (Axios)
Apple buys startup focused on lenses for AR glasses (Reuters)
Wear OS by Google: Health and help are just a swipe away (Google blog)
The World’s Oldest Blockchain Has Been Hiding in the New York Times Since 1995 (Vice)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

Help a Fellow Mac User With Remote Tech Support (The New York Times)
Give Long-Distance Windows Help From the Comfort of Your Own Home (The New York Times)

Monthly Archives: September 2018

PTJ 286: Antisocial Media

PTJ 285: Hashing It Out

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!