Tag Archives: Pixel

PTJ 359: Face Plant

October 22, 2021 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Facebook’s very bad month continues after more testimony and interviews by Frances Haugen, the whistleblower and main source behind The Wall Street Journal’s “Facebook Files” series — as well as a report from its own Oversight Board about the company’s lack of transparency. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss it all along other recent tech headlines, including Apple’s second fall product event and Google’s new Pixel phone. And for audio fans looking for great big sound on a budget, El Kaiser has a review of the Status Flagship ANC Bluetooth noise-cancelling headphones. Headphones, earbuds, speakers — no matter how you listen, PTJ 359 is here!

Whistle-Blower Says Facebook ‘Chooses Profits Over Safety’ (The New York Times)
Gone in Minutes, Out for Hours: Outage Shakes Facebook (The New York Times)
The Facebook Files (The Wall Street Journal)
Facebook Struggles to Quell Uproar Over Instagram’s Effect on Teens (The New York Times)
Oversight Board demands more transparency from Facebook (Oversight Board)
Facebook Is Weaker Than We Knew (The New York Times)
Mark Zuckerberg Breaks Silence on Facebook Whistleblower Testimony, Media Reports (The Wall Street Journal)
The tech billionaire aiding the Facebook whistleblower (POLITICO)
Why Facebook is rebranding (Platformer)
Sinclair Problems: Ransomware Hack and Sports Commissioners Criticism (The Hollywood Reporter)
Mastodon’s Founder Says Trump’s New Social Network Is Just Mastodon (VICE)
Amazon unveils Black Friday-worthy deals earlier than ever (About Amazon)
Windows 11: A new era for the PC begins today (Windows Experience blog)
Microsoft now lets you test Android apps on Windows 11 (The Verge)
Pixel 6: Everything to know about Google’s newest phone (CNet)
Android 12 is live in AOSP! (Android Developers Blog)
Google dropping Play Store subscription fee to 15% for devs (9to5Google)
In worst Apple event ever, the tech giant becomes a parody of itself (Mashable)
Apple’s Device Shortages Threaten Record-Setting Holiday Season (Bloomberg)
Status Flagship ANC headphones

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 316: Jacked

August 31, 2019 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

As The Summer of 2019 winds down, El Kaiser and J.D. discuss (among other things) the buzz around Apple’s annual fall iPhone event, Twitter’s account security issue with one of its major users, Facebook’s latest attempts at transparency in political advertising and Amazon’s growing video-surveillance network. And, as nerds, we used to always run after the shiny new gadget to have the latest and greatest gear — but have we gotten over that particular fear of missing out? Spin up PTJ 316 to hear it all!

Twitter C.E.O. Jack Dorsey’s Account Hacked (The New York Times)
Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker | D23 Special Look (StarWars.com | YouTube)
The Mandalorian: Official Trailer (Disney+ | YouTube)
Apple Invites Media to September 10 Event at Apple Park: ‘By Innovation Only’ (MacRumors)
Apple is turning Siri audio clip review off by default and bringing it in house (TechCrunch)
Improving Siri’s privacy protections (Apple)
Apple offers customers even more options for safe, reliable repairs (Apple)
Huawei plans high-end phone launch under cloud of Google ban (Reuters)
Google set to move Pixel production from China to Vietnam (9to5Google)
Doorbell-camera firm Ring has partnered with 400 police forces, extending surveillance concerns (Washington Post)
Working Together for Safer Neighborhoods: Introducing the Neighbors Active Law Enforcement Map (The Ring Blog)
Updates to Ads About Social Issues, Elections or Politics in the US (Facebook Newsroom)
Telltale Games is being revived (Polygon)
Telltale Games Press Release
The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter (The New York Times)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 274: Golden State

June 6, 2018 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

Even without the NBA finals in the mix, it’s been a busy time out in California with a fierce net-neutrality bill passing a hurdle in the state senate and Mary Meeker’s mega-slideshow on Internet trends. El Kaiser and J.D. surf through the week’s tech news before stopping to ponder life without Twitter — if only just for a little while. Punch up Episode 274 and have a listen!

California Senate defies AT&T, votes for strict net neutrality rules (Ars Technica)
Microsoft leapfrogs Google’s Alphabet, while becoming the 3rd best tech company to-date (On MSFT)
Bring the Stadium Experience Home: Oculus Venues Now Available on Oculus Go and Gear VR (Oculus)
Google Will Try to Tackle Latest iPhones With Pixel Phone Upgrades (Bloomberg)
Former Snap Employee Questions Company’s Culture and Diversity (Cheddar)
Mobile Direct Traffic Eclipses Facebook (Chartbeat Blog)
HIDDEN COBRA – Joanap Backdoor Trojan and Brambul Server Message Block Worm (US-CERT)
International Hacker-For-Hire Who Conspired With and Aided Russian FSB Officers Sentenced to 60 Months in Prison (OPA | Department of Justice)
Foreign Cyber Actors Target Home And Office Routers And Networked Devices Worldwide (Federal Bureau of Investigation)
FBI Urges Internet Users to Reboot Home Routers (NBC New York)
Court upholds federal Kaspersky ban, dismisses lawsuits (Fedscoop)
Facebook to be banned in Papua New Guinea for a month (BBC News)
Shutting down Facebook in PNG is a reality (Post Courier)
Mary Meeker’s 2018 internet trends report: All the slides, plus analysis (Recode)

Downshifting Twitter

How to Defeat a Twitter Addiction (WikiHow)
How to deactivate your account (Twitter Help)
Clean Out a Crowded Twitter Feed With ManageFlitter (Lifehacker)
“I quit social media for a month — and it was the best choice I’ve ever made” (Business Insider)

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint, Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 247: Hello, Epic Equifail! Goodbye, Cassini!

September 18, 2017 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

As the scale of the epic security fail at the Equifax credit bureau comes into focus, El Kaiser and J.D. throwback to Episode 159 and a previous conversation about freezing your credit to ice out identity thieves. Among other headlines this week: The end of NASA’s historic Cassini mission to Saturn. Later in the show, El Kaiser shares his tips for dumping useless followers on social media and J.D. has advice for parents dealing with new teenage drivers. Oh, and Apple did a thing a few days ago, too. Spin up Episode 247 and join in!

Links to Stories in This Week’s Episode

Pop Tech Jam Episode 159: Put Your Credit on Ice…Online
Failure to patch two-month-old bug led to massive Equifax breach (Ars Technica)
FTC probes Equifax; top Democrat likens it to Enron (Reuters)
Ayuda! (Help!) Equifax Has My Data! (Krebs on Security)
Congress will hold two hearings on the massive Equifax data breach (Recode)
Equifax’s credit report monitoring site is also vulnerable to hacking (ZDNet)
We tested Equifax’s data breach checker — and it’s basically useless (ZDNet)
Here are all the big products Apple announced on Tuesday (CNBC)
iOS 11 to be released to the public on September 19 for iPhone and iPad (9to5Mac)
October 4th is new Pixel day, confirmed by Google with video and billboard (Android Police)
Privacy enhancements coming to the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (Windows Experience blog)
Trump administration orders purge of Kaspersky products from U.S. government (Reuters)
DHS Statement on the Issuance of Binding Operational Directive 17-01 (Department of Homeland Security)
Mueller Probe Has ‘Red-Hot’ Focus on Social Media, Officials Say (Bloomberg)
Facebook bans monetization of violence, porn, drugs, hate (TechCrunch)
Cassini Spacecraft Makes Its Final Approach to Saturn (NASA)
Excitement and Tears as NASA Goddard Team Prepares for Cassini Finale (NASA)
Cassini’s End of Mission (NASA)

Social-Media Ghostbusting Services

(Hopefully) Helpful Hint

Apps to Provide Peace of Mind With a Teenager Behind the Wheel (The New York Times)
Eyes on the Road, Not on the Phone (The New York Times)

Episode Links, Podcast

PTJ 207: Show Time

October 4, 2016 J.D. Biersdorfer Leave a comment

“Hey, where’s all those Batmans going on 11th Avenue?” Mass Invasion maestro Janifer Cheng stops by on her way to the New York Comic Con extravaganza to share her thoughts on cosplay and other convention fun with El Kaiser and J.D. (who is moderating three panels at the expo this weekend herself). In the news segment, we discuss Google’s fancy new Pixel phones, Facebook’s Marketplace’s problems, and the fact that some nice people from the government want to talk to Yahoo about its “security” issues. Oh, and two other words: Luke Cage.

Want to know where we got these stories? Check out the links below:

Google announces new hardware (Made by Google)
Introducing Marketplace: Buy and Sell with Your Local Community (Facebook)
Facebook Commerce Policy (Facebook)
Sex. Drugs. Guns. Meet Facebook’s Marketplace (USA Today)
Facebook says a ‘technical issue’ caused illegal listings (Business Insider)
Microsoft pulls Band listings from its Store; admits no Band 3 this year (ZDNet)
Apple will automatically download macOS Sierra on Macs starting today (The Verge)
New California law allows test of autonomous shuttle with no driver (Reuters)
Still Waiting to Hear From Yahoo (The New York Times)
iTunes Spoken Editions lets you listen to your favorite websites (Tech Crunch)
Dream Chaser: The Spacecraft That Will Transform Humanity’s Access to Space (Observer)
The Hilarious Way Jessica Jones and Luke Cage Weighed In On Netflix’s Crash (CinemaBlend)
Mission complete: Rosetta’s journey ends in daring descent to comet (ESA)

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