Tag Archives: Google Maps

PTJ 363: Bye, ’Pod

On this episode, El Kaiser and J.D. catch up after an unintentional hiatus to discuss current events — including Elon Musk’s fluctuating deal to buy Twitter, the rapid demise of CNN+ and Apple’s decision to retire the iPod after 21 years. Spin up PTJ 363 right here!

PTJ 344: Power Plays

Labor Day has been here and gone for weeks now, so El Kaiser and JD get back to business with a pile of news, including the new PlayStation and Xbox consoles arriving on November and recap of Apple’s September event. And because the year is only going to get more intense from here, this week’s episode also offers suggestions for science-fiction television entertainment to temporarily make you forget the current state of this world. Come on along for PTJ 344!

Science-Fiction TV Shows for Escaping Reality

PTJ 341: Tick Tock

How long until a hacked social-media platform causes real damage in the world? Are TikTok’s days in the US numbered? Is time running out for political ads on Facebook? Is anybody watching Quibi? El Kaiser and JD have questions — and opinions. Also, what local stores and restaurants are still open as the COVID-19 pandemic eases up or crashes down around the country? Just dial up PTJ 341 to find out answers to at least some of these questions!

Stories in This Week’s News Segment

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

PTJ 326: Who’s Zoomin’ Who?

Greetings from the depths of February, where El Kaiser shares an appraisal of his recent binge-watching content, The Good Place and Letterkenny. February also means Mobile World Congress — but not this year, thanks to concern over the coronavirus. After a stroll through the other recent tech headlines, J.D. also offers a (Hopefully) Helpful Hint about protect you and yours from an increasingly common bank scam. Punch up PTJ 326 to hear it all!

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

PTJ 298: Over Easy

Famous eggs, self-delivering scooters, rabbit-ears making a comeback and YouTube tries to ban stupidity — El Kaiser and JD catch up on a big pile of technology news from the past week or two. And in a (Hopefully) Helpful Hint, J.D. explains how to use a free, pre-built spreadsheet to track your finances. Roll on into PTJ 298 to hear it all!

Stories Discussed on This Week’s Show

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

PTJ 267: Facebork

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

Chatbots

PTJ 241: Glass Houses

After a two-week hiatus, El Kaiser and J.D. are back with the tech news of the week — including Amazon’s latest experiments for making money and Google Glass finally finding a home of sorts. And how about that Doctor Who announcement last weekend, eh? Oh, and if you have to ride the New York City subway system, do we have a tip for you!

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

 

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint: Go Dark

Do you long for the days of the WarGames-era VDT with the black screen and green type? Or do you just hate the glare of a bright white display? Are you coping with vision difficulties? If so,  your apps and operating system and some of your programs might include settings that make it easier on your eyes.

For example, If you don’t want to flip your whole operating system around, you can often find a dark or night mode setting in many apps — like Microsoft Edge, Twitter for Android and iOS, the Amazon Kindle and Apple’s own iBooks app, and some apps like Waze and Google Maps might flip to the night mode automatically, depending on the time of day. YouTube’s desktop site just added a dark mode, too.

But if you want things more consistently less glaring, Windows 10 has a Dark Mode available in the Settings app, as well as a High Contrast Mode in the Ease of Access controls. Dark Mode doesn’t make everything dark, mainly just the background of certain apps and system screens, but the High Contrast Mode flips the background and changes the colors of several kinds of screen type to make everything stand out better for those who have trouble discerning different tints. Apple’s System Preferences for macOS has similar controls in the Display area of the Accessibility settings.

And don’t worry — if you get tired of dark mode, you can always come back to the light.

PTJ 227: Special Delivery

It seems like everybody’s got something on the way this week: Samsung’s new phone waits in the wings, Amazon’s Alexa is calling in for a six pack, robots are rolling out with restaurant orders and Apple even quietly slipped a few new products into the retail channel. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss it all — including that very special package sent down from the International Space Station.

Links to This Week’s News Stories

 

PTJ 222: Noises Off

On this week’s episode,  Don Donofrio returns to discuss possible paths ahead for of Apple this year as the company comes off a record-breaking quarterly profit and a surging stock price.  El Kaiser and J.D. have some things to say about Facebook’s new autoplay audio on videos, the price war between Verizon Wireless and
T-Mobile for unlimited data plans, and new tools for Google Maps. Oh, and the Queen of England is doing her part in the global war on cybercrime. Tally-ho!

Links to Stories in This Week’s News Segment