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 all that infernal noise around you. Jump into Episode 269 to hear for yourself! Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Show * Mark Zuckerberg Prepares to Testify as Extent of Data Harvesting Widens (The New York Times) * Hearing Before The United States House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce: Mark Zuckerberg Testimony (House.gov) * Zuckerberg to meet with U.S. lawmakers Monday: sources (Reuters) * Zuckerberg Gets a Crash Course in Charm. Will Congress Care? (The New York Times) * Why Mark Zuckerberg’s 14-Year Apology Tour Hasn’t Fixed Facebook (Wired) * Facebook: Cambridge Analytica warning sent to users (BBC News) * Facebook Launches New Initiative to Help Scholars Assess Social Media’s Impact on Elections (Facebook Newsroom) * (How) Will Facebook Self-Regulate “Issue Ads” Intended to Affect U.S. Elections? The Details Matter a Lot (Election Law Blog) * Facebook could face record fine, say former FTC officials (The Washington Post) * Facebook sent a doctor on a secret mission to ask hospitals to share patient data (CNBC) * First look at Instagram Nametags, its clone of Snapchat QR codes (TechCrunch) * Instagram Looks Like Facebook’s Best Hope (Bloomberg) * YouTube may be illegally collecting kids’ data (MIT Technology Review) * Twitter Bots: An Analysis of Automated Accounts and the Links They Share (Pew Research Center) * Launching today: new collaborative study to dimin...

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 of Mozilla Firefox — and new changes on the way to make it a “mixed reality” browser. Come join us for Episode 268! Links to Stories Discussed in This Week’s Episode * Spotify poised to be a $25bn company on eve of IPO (The Guardian) * Spotify’s IPO confirms it’s worth more than Hewlett-Packard and General Mills (Quartz) * Apple Plans to Use Its Own Chips in Macs From 2020, Replacing Intel (Bloomberg) * Apple spring event 2018: A new iPad and 4 other takeaways (CNN Tech) * ESPN’s streaming service, ESPN+, to launch April 12 (TechCrunch) * Over-the-top-only U.S. households nearly tripled since 2013, impacting TV ad dollars (TechCrunch) * Fin7 Syndicate Hacks Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor Stores (Gemini Advisory) * Card Data Stolen From 5 Million Saks and Lord & Taylor Customers (The New York Times) * Group Steals 5 Million Credit Cards From Saks Fifth Avenue (Tom’s Hardware) * Panerabread.com Leaks Millions of Customer Records (KrebsOnSecurity) * Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook’s future, fake news, and Russian mischief (Vox) * Facebook plans crackdown on ad targeting by email without consent (TechCrunch) * Google-Led Plan to Upend Wireless Industry Gains Momentum (Bloomberg) * In U.S. Brawl With Huawei, Rural Cable Firms Are an Unlikely Loser (The Wall Street Journal) * Announcing 1.1.1.1: the fastest, privacy-first consumer DNS service (Cloudflare ...

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 * How Trump Consultants Exploited the Facebook Data of Millions (The New York Times) * Here’s how Facebook allowed Cambridge Analytica to get data for 50 million users (Recode) * Suspending Cambridge Analytica and SCL Group from Facebook (Facebook) * Pursuing Forensic Audits to Investigate Cambridge Analytica Claims (Facebook) * Whistleblower: Facebook Suspended Me for Exposing Cambridge Analytica (The Daily Beast) * Cambridge Analytica, the shady data firm that might be a key Trump-Russia link, explained (Vox) * U.S. and British lawmakers demand answers from Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg (The Washington Post) * Facebook may have violated FTC privacy deal, say former federal officials, triggering risk of massive fines (The Washington Post) * Massachusetts AG to investigate Facebook, Cambridge Analytica (CNN) * Facebook and the endless string of worst-case scenarios (TechCrunch) * YouTube suggested conspiracy videos to children using its Kids app (Business Insider) * YouTube didn’t tell Wikipedia about its plans for Wikipedia (The Verge) * YouTube Will Link Directly to Wikipedia to Fight Conspiracy Theories (Wired) * The @Wikimedia Foundation statement about the recent @YouTube announcement (via Twitter) * Apple to Host March 27 Event in...

A preview peep of the new Android P operating system has arrived for developers and Microsoft is adding an “S” mode to the next version of Windows 10. El Kaiser and J.D. also discuss other letters in the news this week, including SEC and OMG, as in “OMG, why is the Amazon Alexa laughing by itself???” You can hear all this and more (including a discussion of software vs. treeware for news consumption) on this week’s episode of Pop Tech Jam! Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Episode * Previewing Android P (Android Developers Blog) * Android P Features and APIs (Android Developers Blog) * Android P DP1: New nav bar button enables app rotation even w/ auto-rotate disabled (9to5Google) * Windows 10 in S Mode coming soon to all editions of Windows 10 (Windows Experience Blog) * AI Platform for Windows Developers (Windows Developer Blog) * Researchers Bypassed Windows Password Locks With Cortana Voice Commands (Motherboard) * Snap is laying off about 100 engineers (CNBC) * Statement on Potentially Unlawful Online Platforms for Trading Digital Assets (SEC.gov) * Amazon launches a low-cost version of Prime for Medicaid recipients (TechCrunch) * Amazon Alexa devices are creepily laughing at their owners for no reason (Consequence of Sound) Consuming News * For Two Months, I Got My News From Print Newspapers. Here’s What I Learned. (The New York Times) * The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption by Clay Johnson (O’Reilly Media)  

Congratulations to the sound team on Dunkirk for the Oscars — we here at Pop Tech Jam had a feeling you were going to win! But now that we know who won the 2018 Academy Awards, life is still full of burning questions: Who am I? What is my place in the universe? Why do the Klingons on Star Trek: Discovery look so different from the Klingons in the rest of the canonical series?  This week, El Kaiser and J.D. discuss The Klingon Question after tackling the technology news of the moment. naDev ‘oH Qap! Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Episode * Twitter Health Metrics Proposal Submission (Twitter blog) * Introducing Uber Health, Removing Transportation as a Barrier to Care (Uber Newsroom) * Google launches Slack competitor Hangouts Chat (Reuters) * ESRB defends “fun” loot boxes as it starts labeling all “in-game purchases” (Ars Technica) * Amazon acquiring Ring to help with Key delivery system (CNBC) * Updates to YouTube Live streaming (YouTube blog) * Google Clips review: a smart camera that doesn’t make the grade (The Verge) * Google Clips camera review: The AI-powered camera takes photos and video (The Washington Post) * Samsung’s Galaxy S9 is official: Fingerprint sensor finally in the right place (Android Police) * Built for the Way We Communicate Today: Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ (Samsung Pressroom) * Apple Turns Up Audio Ambition With High-End Headphones (Bloomberg) * T-Mobile and Sprint name first 5G cities, as race to build next-gen network intensifies (GeekWire) * 5G Cell Service Is Coming.

Going . . . going . . . gone. Twitter finally swooped into action and chopped off thousands of bot accounts and other automatons that were violating its rules. SpaceX fired off another rocket and the repeal of the Net Neutrality rules landed on the Federal Register —which means an open Internet could be gone by April 23. El Kaiser and J.D. hash out the news and also discuss using a Chromebook as a laptop, so hop aboard Episode 264! Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Show * Twitter bot purge prompts backlash (BBC News) * Automation and the use of multiple accounts (Twitter blog) * Inside Twitter’s Bot Purge (The Daily Beast) * AT&T Drives Path to Nationwide Mobile 5G With Multi-Gigabit Speeds (AT&T Newsroom) * SpaceX PAZ mission (SpaceX) * Mr. Steven Will Catch SpaceX Gear (Live Science) * SpaceX misses catching Falcon 9 rocket fairing with a giant net on a big ship (TechCrunch) * Samsung Galaxy S9 smartphone images leaked by MWC app (BBC News) * Restoring Internet Freedom (Federal Register) * FCC publishes net neutrality repeal, but debate goes on (San Francisco Chronicle) * Apple Plans Upgrades to Popular AirPods Headphones (Bloomberg) * Apple rushes out fix to Telugu letter text bomb bug (BBC News) * Latest Intel Security News: Updated Firmware (Intel Newsroom) * More than a movie, ‘Black Panther’ is a movement (CNN) * Black Panther (Box Office Mojo) * Atlanta airport is now offering flights to Wakanda — sort of (CNN) Chromebook Living * Using Microsoft Apps on a Chromebook (The New York Times) *

Google delivers on its commitment to block intrusive ads in the Chrome browser, Microsoft plans to unleash a Beast Mode for Windows 10 power users and Apple. . . well, Apple’s just staining the furniture with the HomePod speaker. El Kaiser and J.D. also discuss other highlights from the week’s tech news and offer tips for rural Internet users who have little choice in broadband providers and have to watch every megabyte they use on metered cellular data plans. Punch up Episode 263 to hear it all! Links to Stories on This Week’s Show * Under the hood: How Chrome’s ad filtering works (Chromium Blog) * Apple HomePod Review: It Only Sounds Great (Wirecutter) * HomePod Teardown (iFixit) * Facebook Funded Most of the Experts Who Vetted Messenger Kids (WIRED) * Windows 10 is adding an Ultimate Performance mode for pros (Engadget) * Expanding Intel’s Bug Bounty Program: New Side Channel Program, Increased Awards (Intel Newsroom) * Tinder plans women-talk-first option similar to Bumble (MarketWatch) * As the Streaming Wars Heat Up, Ryan Murphy Cashes In (The New York Times) (Hopefully) Helpful Hint * Measuring and Managing Your Cellular Data Use (The New York Times) * Tips to Minimize Data Usage (AT&T) * AT&T Data Calculator * Sprint Data Calculator * T-Mobile Calculator * Verizon LTE Data Calculator * Spotify Internet Usage Tips * Choosing a VPN (That One Privacy Site)

The Space Race is back on — and Elon Musk’s own cherry-red Tesla Roadster is the pace car of the 21st century, having been shot into orbit around the sun by its owner. This week, El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the SpaceX test flight of the Falcon Heavy rocket on February 6th, 2018; check out the video below if you missed the Roadster-flinging launch. Elsewhere in the show, El Kaiser shares his opinion about the idea of R-rated a Star Wars movie and J.D. offers tips on how to find online streaming videos with overdubbed audio descriptions for the blind and those with limited vision. For all this — plus a roundup of the week’s tech news — just blast off Episode 262! Links to Stories on This Week’s Show * Falcon Heavy, in a Roar of Thunder, Carries SpaceX’s Ambition Into Orbit (The New York Times) * Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster and Starman Leave Earth Forever in This Final Photo (Space.com) * ‘Consumer Reports’: Samsung, Roku Smart TVs may be vulnerable to hackers (USA Today) * YouTube’s Recommendation Algorithm Favors Conspiracy Videos (New York magazine) * Thirty-six Defendants Indicted for Alleged Roles in Transnational Criminal Organization Responsible for More than $530 Million in Losses from Cybercrimes (United States Department of Justice) * Instagram tests resharing of others’ posts to your Story (TechCrunch) * Snap shares surge after app redesign sparks user growth (Reuters) * Cortana for iOS comes to iPad with native design (Windows Central) * Apple says iPhone 8 and X have ‘hardware updates’ that address battery issues (The Verge) * Google developing a game streaming service codenamed ‘Yeti’ with console hardware (9to5Google) * Google Online Security Blog: Vulnerability Reward Program: 2017 Year in Review (Google Security blog) * John Perry Barlow, Internet Pioneer, 1947-2018 (Electronic Frontier Foundation) Technology + Accessibility *

On this week’s episode. El Kaiser shares his thoughts after a binge of Star Trek: Discovery and J.D. explores a new way to find things that interest you on Instagram. A roundup of the week’s tech news includes a discussion of Twitter’s fake-followers problem, Amazon looking for new ways to provide employee healthcare and Google’s attempts to root out — and boot out — bad apps from its online Android store. All this AND porgs on Episode 261 of PopTech Jam! Links to Stories Mentioned On This Week’s Show * Twitter Followers Vanish Amid Inquiries Into Fake Accounts (The New York Times) * The Follower Factory (The New York Times) * Twitter Doubles The Amount Of People It Says Interacted With Kremlin-Linked Trolls (Buzzfeed) * Amazon, Berkshire and JPMorgan Chase to partner on health care (CNBC) * Windows Defender to start removing “optimizer” scareware (Ars Technica) * California Senate defies FCC, approves net neutrality law (Ars Technica) * Samsung enters crypto-currency chips business (BBC News) * U.S. Probes Apple Over Updates That Slow Older iPhones (Bloomberg) * Podcast Listeners Really Are the Holy Grail Advertisers Hoped They’d Be (Wired) * Get help with cheaper flights and potential flight delays this winter (Google blog) * How we fought bad apps and malicious developers in 2017 (Android Developers blog) * Google backs ‘universal stylus’ campaign (BBC News) * A reintroduction to Google’s featured snippets (Google Keyword blog) * Facebook Really Wants You to Come Back (Bloomberg) * Facebook Aims to Soothe Wall Street Over News Feed Changes (The New York Times) *

The backlash against the Federal Communication Commission’s rollback of net neutrality regulations continues — even a certain monarchy-themed hamburger establishment has weighed in with a video. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the latest developments concerning the Open Internet, and also ponder Twitter’s photo-cropping skills, the Google gestalt and  listening to Netflix in other languages. Click on into Episode 260 to hear it all, and don’t forget to celebrate Data Privacy Day afterwards — go offline and read a treeware book or something! Links to Articles in This Week’s News Segment * Give Good the Advantage: Chronicle Blog (Medium) * Why I left Google to join Grab by Steve Yegge (Medium) * Samsung officially sets Galaxy S9 unveiling for Feb. 25 (CNET) * Apple HomePod (Apple) * Speedy Neural Networks for Smart Auto-Cropping of Images (Twitter blog) * Twitter aiming to make video sharing more Snapchat-like in upcoming app (9to5Mac) * Cuomo demands ISPs follow net neutrality for government contracts (New York Daily News) * De Blasio administration pushes Congress to restore net neutrality via legislation (New York Daily News) * AT&T Is Full of [Bad Word] With Its Full-Page Net Neutrality Ads (Gizmodo) * Burger King Makes the Case for Net Neutrality (Variety) * San Jose mayor resigns from FCC advisory panel (TheHill) * GAO to investigate bot-driven net neutrality comments (Federal Computer World) * Apple’s Getting Back Into the E-Books Fight Against Amazon (Bloomberg) * Apple finally enables life-saving iPhone emergency settings (The Next Web) *

Whether it be tech giants facing Congressional committees or the Google Cultural Institute showing people the power of facial-recognition algorithms, El Kaiser and J.D.  have things to say about it all. Also in the mix: Several states and advocacy groups have fired up the Lawsuit Machine and aimed it at the Federal Communications Commission’s recent repeal of the net neutrality rules. Oh, and here are a pair of newsflashes: Apple has lots of money and Facebook maybe didn’t do so much to stop misinformation on its platform last year.  Spool up Episode 259 for the details! Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Episode * Flurry of Lawsuits Filed to Fight Repeal of Net Neutrality (The New York Times) * Google’s Project Fi now caps data bills at $60 (TechCrunch) * Project Fi (Google) * Apple Gives Employees $2,500 Bonuses After New Tax Law (Bloomberg) * Apple accelerates US investment and job creation (Apple) * Apple expands Siri’s ‘Give me the news’ feature to non-beta users & the U.K. (9to5Mac) * Bitconnect, which has been accused of running a Ponzi scheme, shuts down (TechCrunch) * Facebook is a ‘living, breathing crime scene,’ says one former tech insider (NBC News) * Monitoring fake news was never a priority, says ex-Facebook worker (NBC News) * Facebook, Google tell Congress they’re fighting extremist content with counterpropaganda (CNBC) * Facebook introduces Watch Party to let you watch shows together with friends (The Verge) * ‘It Took Us by Surprise’: Even Google Was Shocked by the Success of Its Megaviral Face-Matching Art App (ArtNet.com) * Google Arts & Culture * Google Arts & Culture for Android * Google Arts & Culture for iOS (Hopefully) Helpful Hint *

The annual Consumer Electronics Show wrapped up in Las Vegas last week, leaving El Kaiser and J.D. plenty of new gadgets to mull, from “intelligent” toilets to high-concept “social-empathy robots.” But other stuff happened outside of Vegas, too — Facebook changed up its News Feed, Spectre and Meltdown patches rolled out, and half of California seems to be suing Apple over that iPhone slowdown move. Spin up Episode 258 to hear it all! Links to Stories on This Week’s Episode * Facebook Couldn’t Handle News. Maybe It Never Wanted To. (BuzzFeed) * Facebook is testing a new section of the app specifically for local news and events (Recode) * Understanding the performance impact of Spectre and Meltdown mitigations on Windows Systems (Microsoft Secure) * Now 30 class action suits against Apple over iPhone throttling; latest alleges five wrongdoings (9to5Mac) * Senator questions Apple over intentional iPhone slowdowns (Ars Technica) * Tech Backlash Grows as Investors Press Apple to Act on Children’s Use (The New York Times) * Alexa is eating Siri’s lunch at CES 2018, and HomePod isn’t going to make a difference (Macworld) * Cortana coming to more devices in 2018 through Devices SDK and new reference designs (Building Apps for Windows blog) * ​Samsung to unveil Galaxy S9 at MWC, not CES (ZDNet) * YouTube Removes Logan Paul From Preferred Program, Puts ‘Thinning’ Sequel on Hold (Hollywood Reporter) * How the Democrats are using Republicans’ favorite move to try to preserve net neutrality (BGR.com) * Snuggle robots and talking toilets: CES 2018’s wildest gadgets (The Washington Post) * 10 of the Coolest Gadgets We Saw at CES 2018 (Time) *

The new year is here and so far, 2018 is already throwing its five moves of doom around the ring: Massive security flaws in the world’s computer processors, a giant lawsuit against Spotify, the government’s white-hat hacker shortage, YouTube drama and all kinds of bad behavior on Twitter. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss it all here in Episode 257 of Pop Tech Jam, so just push Play for the main event! Links to Stories Discussed in This Week’s Episode * Researchers Discover Two Major Flaws in the World’s Computers (The New York Times) * What You Need to Do Because of Flaws in Computer Chips (The New York Times) * Today’s CPU vulnerability: what you need to know (Google Security blog) * Meltdown and Spectre (Graz University of Technology) * Fight for the Future: Vote for Net Neutrality * Apple will replace old iPhone batteries, regardless of diagnostic test results (The Verge) * Spotify Hit With $1.6 Billion Copyright Lawsuit Over Tom Petty, Weezer, Neil Young Songs (Hollywood Reporter) * Alphabet’s Google explores sale of restaurant reviewer Zagat (Reuters) * The Logan Paul Suicide Video Shows YouTube Is Facing A Crucial Turning Point (BuzzFeed) * NSA’s top talent is leaving because of low pay, slumping morale and unpopular reorganization (The Washington Post) * Woman receives bionic hand with sense of touch (BBC News) Avoid the Twitter Litter * Twitter Rules and policies (Twitter) * Would Twitter Ever Suspend Trump’s Account? (The New York Times) * Messages Are Projected On Twitter HQ After Trump’s North Korea Tweets (Huffington Post) * Adjusting Twitter’s Sensitivities (The New York Times) *

As the tired old year of 2017 limps toward the exit, it seems fitting that age discrimination is in the news this week — both for smartphones and human job-seekers. El Kaiser and J.D. sort through two weeks’ worth of headlines, share their musings on Star Wars: The Last Jedi and offer up a warning about using browser extensions. It’s been a crazy year in many ways, but Pop Tech Jam returns in early 2018, just in time to make fun of the weirdest products at the Consumer Electronics Show. Spin up Episode 256 here and look for us in a few weeks. Happy Holidaze, Jammers! Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Episode * Apple Plans Combined iPhone, iPad & Mac Apps to Create One User (Bloomberg) * Apple responds to reports of worn batteries forcing iPhone CPU slowdowns (Apple Insider) * Facebook Job Ads Raise Concerns About Age Discrimination (The New York Times) * Facebook Is Also Helping Employers Keep Job Ads Away From Older People (Gizmodo) * How to use login verification (Twitter) * Web browsing comes to Amazon’s Fire TV ahead of YouTube ban (CNET) * The War Over Net Neutrality (Bloomberg) * New York AG to Sue FCC Over Net Neutrality Repeal (The Hill) * Netflix rips net neutrality repeal: ‘This is the beginning of a longer legal battle’ (The Hill) * Three U.S. men plead guilty to crimes tied to 2016 botnet attacks (Reuters) * How a Dorm Room Minecraft Scam Brought Down the Internet (Wired) * Twitter says Russians spent ~$1k on six Brexit-related ads (TechCrunch) * New to Office 365 in December—extending human ingenuity with everyday AI (Office Blogs) * Microsoft looks to make Bing results smarter with new AI-powered features and Redd...

The cryptocurrency Bitcoin is all over the news this month, and El Kaiser and J.D. discuss some of the more recent developments, along with the Consumer Reports verdict on the iPhone X and the legal tussle between oracle and Google. El Kaiser shares his thoughts on Crisis on Earth X and J.D. offers a (Hopefully) Helpful Hint on converting those meeting notes scrawled on the office whiteboard into text you can edit on your phone. Oh, and there’s a little movie called Star Wars: The Last Jedi headed to theaters this month, so if you need something to listen to while you’re waiting around in line for it, push Play on Episode 255 here! * Bitcoin Shakes Off Bubble Warnings in Race Past $15,000 Mark (Bloomberg) * Steam Community Announcements (Steam blog) * Digital currency exchange NiceHash says Bitcoin worth nearly $64 million hacked (Reuters) * Instagram is testing a separate messaging app and may remove DMs from the core app (The Verge) * iPhone X is inferior to Samsung’s new phones, Consumer Reports says (CBNC) * CR’s Final iPhone X Test Results: Top-Scoring Camera and Display But Also Some Flaws (Consumer Reports) * Inside Oracle’s cloak-and-dagger political war with Google (Recode) * Chrome Apps are dead, as Google shuts down the Chrome Web Store section (Ars Technica) * Lyft’s self-driving pilot with nuTonomy begins rolling out in Boston (TechCrunch) * Your Search questions, answered selfie-style on Google (The Keyword blog) * Star Wars: The Last Jedi (StarWars.com) (Hopefully) Helpful Hint * Scanning, Converting and Editing Text on the Go  (The New York Times)