Pop | Tech | Jam

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!

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!

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Election security — or lack thereof — dominated the headlines this week as social-media platforms moved to boot trolls and industry leaders met to discuss what to do with the U.S.midterms looming. Meanwhile, Walmart and Kobo teamed up on ebooks, rumors about Apple's fall event popped up right on time, Samsung released its Galaxy Note9 and Google is trying to find regular doses of good news out there. All this and more on Episode 284!

Celebratory adult beverages were likely consumed around the technosphere these past few days as Apple became the first trillion-dollar company, Motorola announced 5G phone hardware was on the way and fans of white wine pushed for their very own emoji. El Kaiser (fresh off an appearance on the Wide Range Media podcast) and J.D. explore those stories and more, and a soon-to-be-vacationing Kaiser shares packing tips for his traveling gear bag. Grab a cold one and chill out to Episode 283!Note: Pop Tech Jam is on vacation next week.

On this week's episode, El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the things that are making the tech world shake, rattle and roll — including Amazon's facial recognition software not passing muster with the American Civil Liberties Union, Facebook's stock price plummeting and the possibility of the Broadway musical Hamilton coming to Netflix. In the (Hopefully) Helpful Hint, J.D. also describes a new scam going around that shows off an old password you've actually used in the past. Ride along with Episode 282!

In this week's show, J.D. and an overworked El Kaiser discuss the week's news, including Google's big fine and Amazon Prime Day's big fail. There's also an exciting turn of events for those wishing rocket jet-packs were real. J.D. also has a (Hopefully) Helpful Hint about making your Windows PC or Mac clean up after itself. Hear it all now on Episode 281!

Several companies have now stepped up the fight against fake news — most noticeably, Twitter, as the service finally began to delete fake accounts and return follower totals back to the realm of real people. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the efforts, as well as the state of streaming television, Apple's latest updates and the things one can find for sale on the Dark Net. In a (Hopefully) Helpful Hint, J.D. has some tips for how to stay charged up when traveling. All aboard Episode 280!

In that quiet time of the year between developer conferences and the back-to-school sales, product announcements are scarce — but the hazy, lazy days of summer are no vacation for the legal world! As El Kaiser and J.D. discover on this week's episode, court rulings and decisions by lawmakers dominated the news this week, with a few bug revivals thrown in for good measure. J.D. also explores the new Windows 10 Timeline feature in Microsoft's latest operating-system update, so beat the heat and find a cool place to settle in with Episode 279!

On this week's episode, El Kaiser discusses his return to gaming and adventures with hardware, and J.D. explores the world of indoor maps. In tech news this week, Disney marches on to a Fox acquisition, Facebook tries a way to block spoilers, the Dark Net gets busted and this fall's new Doctor Who series will have its own unique look and sound. Find a cool spot to kick back and spin up PTJ 278!

It's been a week of heavy legal news, deals and global affairs — almost enough to make you want to escape to a fantasy realm to take a break over a pint of butterbeer. El Kaiser and J.D. sort through the stories of the week before moving on to a discussion of how the Harry Potter franchise is keeping active far beyond the original seven books. PTJ 277 awaits behind that Play button — Alohomora! 

A judge cleared the way for AT&T and Time Warner to merge, Apple plans to reinforce its iPhone security, Microsoft made a bunch of announcements — but hey, here comes the annual E3 event to bring in the fun. El Kaiser and J.D. sort through it all before a discussion about the VPNFilter malware — you know, that one the FBI was warning about the other week — and how to protect your router from it. Spin up PTJ 276 to hear it all!

If it's early June, odds are the technology-news business will be dominated by announcements coming out of Apple's annual World Wide Developers Conference. However, new revelations about Facebook's privacy practices did draw attention and even CEO Tim Cook found time to comment — as Apple unveiled new tools designed to hamper companies like Facebook who have been quietly hoovering up personal data from unsuspecting users for years. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the week's events and a few other non-Apple headlines on this week's episode before offering a (Hopefully) Helpful Hint about recording a video of the action on your phone screen. Roll PTJ 275 to hear it all!

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!

Yanny or Laurel? El Kaiser was too busy mixing up podcasts to weigh in, and J.D. thought the whole thing was dumb and tuned into Queen Ida and the Bon Temps Zydeco Band instead — but The New York Times built a handy little tool to demonstrate how audio frequencies factor into the matter. Beyond all that, Episode 273 serves up the week's tech news, pours one out for Tom Wolfe and contemplates the strange notion of secure and private email. Give a listen!

This past week saw two big developer conferences unload several boxes of announcements, as Google I/O and Microsoft Build fought for media attention like "Godzilla vs. Gamera". El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the ramped-up interest in artificial intelligence coming out of both conferences, along with other headlines from around the technosphere. J.D. also offers suggestions for dealing with an excess of emoji, and previews new characters under consideration by the Unicode Consortium. Come sit a spell and join us for Episode 272!

Fresh off the latest Facebook user-abuse apology media tour and visit with the U.S. Congress, Mark Zuckerberg made a slew of announcements at this week's F8 Developers Conference in California, which El Kaiser and J.D. discuss on this week's episode — along with other news from the tech realm. Episode 271 also sports a quick look at the big geek movies headed into theaters this summer and an explanation of "malvertising." Spin up this latest installment of Pop Tech Jam to hear it all!

California fires a shot across the bow of the FCC's net neutrality repeal, Amazon's Alexa has a new do-it-yourself project for users and even aquariums aren't safe on the Internet of Things. El Kaiser and J.D. sort through the technology news of the past 10 days before discussing a great vacation destination for aviation and NASA nerds: The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virgina, home to the National Air and Space Museum's big collection of airplanes and spacecraft. Jump into it all here in Episode 270 of Pop Tech Jam!

Mark Zuckerberg lands in the Congressional hot seat this week over Facebook’s role in user privacy protection and the social network’s influence on life, culture and election interference. After a march through the current tech headlines with J.D., El Kaiser has a roundup review of earplugs for those times when you need to screen out … Continue reading PTJ 269: Flying Solo →

El Kaiser and J.D. return from Spring Break and head right into the news of the week, which includes Spotify’s initial public offering, an iPad update from Apple, background information on the latest credit-card hack and this year’s collection of April Fools jokes by corporate America. J.D. also takes a look at the revamped version … Continue reading PTJ 268: Rock ‘Em, Shock ‘Em →