POP | TECH | JAM

Mobile World Congress brought in the new and the old this week, Twitter and Facebook are stepping it up to help users in need and Amazon Web Services had a sad day this week. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss it all — and YouTube’s big week of views and cord-cutting measures — on this week’s weatherproof episode of Pop Tech Jam. Links to Stories in This Week’s News Segment * Nokia 3310: The icon is back (Nokia) * Sony’s stunning new Xperia™ XZ Premium with the world’s first Super slow motion video in a smartphone (Sony Pressroom) * Sony Xperia XZ Premium (Sony) * Lenovo™ Miix 320 Detachable: Powering the side hustle (Lenovo blog) * Samsung expands tablet portfolio with Galaxy Tab S3 and Galaxy Book (Samsung) * Trump inspires encryption boom in leaky D.C. (Politico) * Our latest update on safety (Twitter) * Building a safer community with new suicide prevention tools (Facebook) * Comcast to launch YouTube App on Xfinity XI (Comcast blog) * You know what’s cool? A billion hours (YouTube blog) * Finally, live TV made for you (YouTube blog) * Amazon Web Services errors disrupt big part of the Internet (Bloomberg) * Introducing Xbox Game Pass: Unlimited access to more than 100 games (Xbox Wire) * Spotify is preparing to launch a Hi-Fi music tier (The Verge) * SpaceX to send privately crewed dragon spacecraft beyond the moon next year (SpaceX)

Things down here on Earth may be business as usual — mergers, lawsuits, taxes, paradigm shifts, feature updates and so on — but exciting things are happening Up Above as well as Out There. SpaceX had another successful rocket launch and resupply mission to the International Space Station, the Juno craft decided to take the long way around Jupiter for bonus science, NASA announced the discovery of seven possibly life-supporting exoplanets and Winston Churchill was writing about life beyond Earth way back in the 1930s. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss it all on this week’s episode of Pop Tech Jam, so Mr. Sulu, take us out! Links to Stories in This Week’s News Segment * Verizon and Yahoo amend terms of definitive agreement (Verizon) * Verizon to deliver 5G service to pilot customers in 11 markets across U.S. by Mid 2017 (Verizon) * Office for Mac gets Touch Bar support with Outlook integration coming soon (Macworld) * Announcing updates to Windows 10 Mail & Calendar apps (Windows blog) * MacBook Pro Touch Bar support now available for Office 2016 for Mac (9to5Mac) * The Mark Zuckerberg Manifesto: Great for Facebook, bad for journalism (The Atlantic) * Uber investigating harassment claims by ex-employee (NYTimes.com) * Uber hires ex-U.S. Attorney General Holder to probe sexual harassment (Reuters) * Key moments from Snap’s I.P.O. roadshow video (NYTimes.com) * Share up to 10 photos and videos in one post (Instagram) * Apple will fight ‘Right to Repair’ legislation (Motherboard) * Apple buys Israel’s facial recognition firm RealFace (Times of Israel) * iPhone 8 will include ‘revolutionary’ front camera with 3D sensing abilities (MacRumors) * Apple Park opens to employees in April (Apple Newsroom) *

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 * Keep track of your favorite places and share them with friends (Google blog) * How-to: Spectator View, a new tool to help others see what you see in HoloLens (Windows blog) * Apple joins Wireless Power Consortium/Qi, lending weight to rumor of wireless charging for iPhone 8 (9to5Mac) * One of the iPhone 8’s hottest new features might not even work out of the box (BGR.com) * Eddy Cue says Planet of the Apps will premiere this spring and be ad-free (9to5Mac.com) * Get unlimited data on the network you deserve (Verizon) * Mobile ONE ups Verizon’s new unlimited offer (T-Mobile Newsroom) * New ways to watch Facebook video (Facebook) * Facebook tries to offer music labels a YouTube alternative (Bloomberg) * Elon Musk thinks humans need to become cyborgs or risk irrelevance (The Verge) * Amazon Chime, a new unified communications service (Businesswire.com) * UK cybercrime body launches private sector drive as Queen opens new HQ (Reuters)

On this week’s episode, El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the collision of the technology industry with the government, smart television sets that watch you, the ongoing battle with fake news and the demise of the message boards on IMDb.com. Get out of the winter weather and fire up Episode 221! Links to This Week’s News Stories * An update on safety (Twitter blog) * Resounding support for updating electronic privacy laws (Google blog) * Tech opposition to Trump propelled by employees, not executives (The New York Times) * How Google fought back against a crippling IoT-powered botnet and won (Ars Technica) * Project Shield (Google) * South Korea to strengthen battery safety rules after Note 7 fires (Reuters) * Vizio to pay $2.2 million to FTC, State of New Jersey to settle charges it collected viewing histories on 11 million smart televisions without users’ consent (Federal Trade Commission) * What Vizio was doing behind the TV screen (Federal Trade Commission) * Your privacy, your devices, and you (The Wirecutter) * Most smart TVs are tracking you — Vizio just got caught (The Verge) * Uber hires veteran NASA engineer to develop flying cars (Bloomberg) * Uber sues Seattle for implementing union law (Axios) * Facebook, Google join drive against fake news in France (Reuters) * Apple’s long delayed Beats X wireless earbuds launch February 10 (TechCrunch) * Film site IMDB to shut down message boards (BBC)

Politics body-slammed the tech world this week, cyber-criminals have figured out yet another way to rip off unsuspecting victims and an enterprising young archaeologist has come up with a way to let volunteers help look for lost ruins from the comfort of their own homes. And when El Kaiser and J.D. finish the news, it’s time to pour one out for the Father of Pac-Man. Welcome to Episode 220! * Amazon and Expedia attack Trump’s immigration order in court (Buzzfeed) * Why people are deleting Uber from their phones after Trump’s executive order (Vox) * Google employees staged a protest over Trump’s immigration ban (The Verge) * Google I/O 2017 dates (Twitter) * If a telemarketer or robocall asks “Can you hear me?” just hang up; it’s a scam (Consumerist) * Hackers could use hidden mal-audio to attack Google Now (NetworkWorld) * Hidden Voice Commands (research paper) * Hidden Voice Commands demo (video) * News feed FYI: New signals to show you more authentic and timely stories (Facebook Newsroom) * Facebook developing video app for Apple TV, other set-tops (Variety) * The FCC won’t force cable companies to unlock their set-top boxes after all (Recode) * We have news! (Plex blog) * Apple posts record revenue thanks to holiday sales of iPhone 7 (The Guardian) * LG UltraFine 5K Display, Apple’s external monitor solution, can become unusable when near a router (9to5Mac) * Website crowdsources archaeological digs (BBC News) * GlobalXplorer°

Samsung thinks it’s solved the mystery of the exploding Note 7, Sprint grabs a new business partner, SpaceX returns to work and oh, cars might fly soon. On this week’s episode, El Kaiser and J.D. dive into a pile of tech-news headlines before Apple-watcher Don Donofrio drops by to discuss the company’s 2016 efforts. * Galaxy Note 7 fires caused by battery and design flaws, Samsung says (The New York Times) * Galaxy Note7: What we discovered (Samsung Global Newsroom) * Failure Analysis of Samsung Note 7 (UL) * Samsung Galaxy S8 release date rumored to be scheduled for April 15 (Tech Times) * Trump appoints anti-regulation Net Neutrality enemy to head FCC (Gizmodo) * The SEC is reportedly investigating why Yahoo took so long to disclose that it was hacked (TechCrunch) * Yahoo postpones close of Verizon transaction to Q2 2017, citing work needed (VentureBeat) * Sprint acquires 33 percent of TIDAL and creates game-changing partnership (Sprint Newsroom) * Ringing in 2017 with updates to our Google Voice apps (Google blog) * Saving you bandwidth on Google+ through machine learning (Google blog) * A new generation of Chromebooks, designed for millions of students and educators (Google) * All Chromebooks debuting in 2017 and beyond will run Android apps (Ars Technica) * Announcing Intune for Education & new Windows 10 PCs for school starting at $189 (Windows blog) * Mac sales declined nearly 10% last year as Lenovo, Dell and others gained ground (9to5Mac) * App Store app prices to rise in the UK by >25% following Brexit exchange rate fluctuation...

The Consumer Electronics Show is over for another year, leaving a pile of press releases, product releases and demo videos in its wake. El Kaiser and J.D.  discuss the highlights of the 2017 mega-gadgetfest, and sample a few other stories in the tech headlines this week. Also on the show, J.D. points NASA fans in the direction of the new movie Hidden Figures — and the apps and sites celebrating these inspiring women. Through hardships to the stars, indeed. Links to This Week’s News Stories • I have seen the future: Alexa controls everything (Ars Technica) • All the cool new gadgets at CES 2017 (CNET) • Battle of the CES 2017 coffee and tea robots (CNET) • Nokia 6, Asus ZenFone AR and Other CES 2017 Launches, Vodafone’s Rs. 499 Plan, More News This Week (Gadgets360) • Marissa Mayer is resigning from Yahoo’s board (Business Insider) • After Verizon deal, Yahoo to become ‘Altaba’ and Marissa Mayer to step down from board (The New York Times) • United State Securities and Exchange Commission Form 8-K • Facebook is going to start showing ads in the middle of its videos and sharing the money with publishers (Recode) • Cybersecurity vulnerabilities identified in St. Jude medical’s implantable cardiac devices and Merlin@home transmitter (FDA Safety Communication) • Commission proposes high level of privacy rules for all electronic communications and updates data protection rules for EU institutions (EU Commission press release) • Our continuing commitment to your privacy with Windows 10 (Windows blog) • One place to manage your privacy (Microsoft) • Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 15002 for PC (Windows blog) • Coming Soon to Windows 10 (Microsoft) • Facebook, Google face strict EU privacy rules that could hit ad revenues (Ars Technica) •

After a tumultuous year that saw the sad passing of actress and author Carrie Fisher (as well as Kenny Baker) the year 2017 has arrived. And so, coincidentally,  is Episode 217 of Pop Tech Jam. On this week’s show, El Kaiser and J.D. discuss some early announcements out of the Consumer Electronics Show, what Facebook’s been up to lately and explore suggestions to the Twitter’s CEO about improving the bird-themed microblogging service. J.D. also has a (Hopefully) Helpful Hint about watching the skies. While you’re looking up, raise a glass to the memories of the actors that brought Princess Leia and R2-D2 to life all those years ago. They will be with us, always. Links to Stories in This Week’s Episode * HBO moves up debut of Debbie Reynolds-Carrie Fisher documentary ‘Bright Lights’ to Jan. 7 (Los Angeles Times) * Raising the IQ of today’s smart home (Lenovo blog) * DISH and Amazon deliver Alexa voice control on Hopper DVR (Businesswire) * Alexa, start the washer: Whirlpool makes it possible at CES (CNET) * Seiki, Westinghouse Electronics and Element Electronics introduce the first line of 4K Ultra HD Smart TVs with Amazon Fire TV (PR Newswire) * Facebook & Google dominate the list of 2016’s top apps (TechCrunch) * Facebook developing Copyright ID system to stem music rights infringement (Billboard) * Facebook doesn’t tell users everything it really knows about them (ProPublica) * How does Facebook work with data providers? (Facebook) * Luggage tag code unlocks your flights, identity to hackers (PCmag.com) * Elon Musk’s SpaceX says it has found cause of rocket explosion and plans to fly again Sunday (The Washington Post) *

After a tumultuous 12 months in tech, culture and politics, this annus horribilis (as many found it) is finally on the way out the door. On this last episode of the year, El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the week’s tech news before exploring the highlights, lowlights and other notable events of 2016. Thanks for listening this year, Jammers, and we’ll be back in 2017! Links to This Week’s Stories * CES 2017 rumor roundup (TrustedReviews.com) * Smart Living: Consumer expectations for smart home technology (Consumer Technology Association) * Brick-and-mortar is out, brick-and-mobile is in (Consumer Technology Association) * ASUS releases CES 2017 ZenFone video teaser, new phone (phoneArena.com) * Samsung claims sleek new laptops are lightest on market, at just 1.8lbs (Ars Technica) * New Galaxy S8 leak highlights Samsung’s big decision (Forbes) * How Apple alienated Mac loyalists (Bloomberg) * Apple extends discounts on USB-C adapters and accessories until March 31 (MacRumors) * Apple AirPods teardown (iFixit) * AirPods teardown reveals charging case may have been cause of delay (MacRumors) * Apple’s Tim Cook assures employees that it is committed to the Mac and that ‘great desktops’ are coming (TechCrunch) * LinkedIn resets some Lynda.com users’ passwords following data leak (Venturebeat) * Yahoo says 1 billion user accounts were hacked (The New York Times) * Airbnb is building a flight-booking tool (Bloomberg) * Amazon Fire tablets updated with kids’ reading app, Amazon Rapids, and a more powerful Alexa (TechCrunch) * Building Jarvis (Mark...

If you’re still clinging to a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 — even though the highly flammable device has been officially recalled — Samsung is coming for you with a phone-bricking update in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, the bacon emoji has arrives in iOS 10.2, Netflix is getting all up in the virtual reality and you can now use Dropbox from your Xbox. Also in this week’s episode, El Kaiser presents his Tech Term of 2016 and J.D. has a (Hopefully) Helpful Hint on replacing your smartphone battery. Just press Play! Links to This Week’s News Stories * Apple AirPods are now available (Apple) * Google scaled back self-driving car ambitions (The Information) * Google is no longer developing its own self-driving car: report  (The Verge) * Google said to plan ride-sharing service with Fiat Chrysler (Bloomberg) * Slack calls: Now with 100% more video (Slack blog) * Happy Holidays! (Snap Inc.) * Samsung announced that it will cripple remaining Note 7 phones beginning December 19 (BGR) * Carriers announce the exact dates they plan to kill your Galaxy Note 7 (BGR) * Apple releases iOS 10.2 w/ new emoji, Messages effects, US-only TV app, wallpapers, more (9to5Mac) * Check out every single new emoji in iOS 10.2 (Macworld) * Long after its iOS debut, Google’s Gboard keyboard finally comes to Android i * Netflix VR for Daydream is now available on the Play Store (Android Police) * Netflix and HBO launch virtual reality apps on Google Play (BGR) * Instagram brings live video broadcasts to all U.S. users (TechCrunch) * Introducing Live 360 (Facebook Media blog) * Dropbox for Xbox: View and share from the biggest screen in your house (Dropbox blog) * No, many Bothans did not die in Rogue One: We have all failed Mon Mothma and the Star Wars canon (inverse.

On this week’s very special episode of Pop tech Jam, journalist Laura M. Holson returns to the studio for a discussion about the past, present and future of fake news and how to avoid it. And while El Kaiser continues the long wait for his new Google Pixel phone, he and J.D. pass the time reviewing the week in technology news and planning to do at least an Hour of Code. Join in! Links to This Week’s News Stories * Partnering to help curb spread of online terrorist content (Facebook) * Google removes ‘are Jews evil’ suggestion from autocomplete feature (The Telegraph) * Zo is Microsoft’s latest AI chatbot (MS Power User) * Google DeepMind makes AI training platform publicly available (Bloomberg) * Amazon moves to cut checkout line, promoting a grab-and-go experience (The New York Times) * Let your loved ones know you’re safe with our new personal safety app (Google Keyword blog) * Trusted Contacts app (Google Play store) * Leap Motion goes mobile (Leap Motion blog) * It will soon be illegal to punish customers who criticize businesses online (Ars Technica) * Consumer Review Fairness Act (Congress.gov) * AT&T means business with a 5G trial at Intel (PC World) * Fitbit beats smartwatch makers like Apple in Q3, says IDC (Fortune) * The Apple Watch is not selling well, according to reports (Quartz) * Apple Watch sales to cons...

Another year, another Disney-generated Star Wars movie. And, like last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens pre-sales, the demand for advance  Rogue One tickets Monday morning knocked over the Fandango site like an AT-AT tripped up by crafty snowspeeders. But now that you’ve got your tickets, kill some time until the movie with Carrie Fisher’s new book — or catch up the recent tech news with El Kaiser and J.D., along with this week’s discussion of video streams and spam awareness. May the Force be with you! Links to This Week’s News Stories * U.S. Cyber Monday sales jump, set to surpass initial estimate (Reuters) * Amazon said to plan premium Alexa speaker with large screen (Bloomberg) * Amazon Echo sales reach 5M in two years, research firm says, as Google competitor enters market (GeekWire) * CNN acquires social-video startup Beme, co-founded by YouTube star Casey Neistat (CNN) * AT&T’s DirecTV Now streaming TV service: launching November 30 (9to5Mac) * Sling TV introduces Cloud DVR, to debut in beta for select Roku users (Sling Newsroom) * Google fixes Dump Tower, Trump Tower glitch (San Jose Mercury News) * Donald Trump tells Tim Cook to build iPhones in the USA (Macworld) * The All-American iPhone (MIT Technology Review) * Like the next iPhone, Apple’s next iPad is apparently getting a total redesign (Business Insider) * Apple abandons development of wireless routers (Bloomberg) * Facebook runs up against German hate speech laws (The New York Times) * Help us keep the Archive free, accessible, and private (Internet Archive blog) * San Francisco’s light-rail syst...

After a week off to deal with life during the week of the U.S. elections, El Kaiser and J.D. return to discuss the aftermath of the event and how Facebook and Google have been getting heat over it. Also in the news: Snapchat brings back the concept of camera-integrated glasses, there’s a new app for scanning old photos and Apple has made it easier to make those end-of-year charitable donations. Oh, and Twitter is making more of an effort to deal with abuse and harassment. All this AND MORE on this week’s episode of Pop Tech Jam — roll 212! Links to This Week’s News Stories * Freedom on the Net 2016 (Freedom House) * Facebook, in cross hairs after election, is said to question its influence (The New York Times) * Facebook’s fight against fake news was undercut by fear of conservative backlash (Gizmodo) * Mark Zuckerberg statement * Mark Zuckerberg is in denial (The New York Times Op-Ed) * Renegade Facebook employees form task force to battle fake news (BuzzFeed) * Google will ban websites that host fake news from using its ad service (The New York Times) * Introducing the new Google Play Music (Google blog) * Now your photos look better than ever – even those dusty old prints (Google Keyword blog) * Google PhotoScan app (Google) * Apple considers wearables expansion with digital glasses (Bloomberg) * My insane adventure to buy Snap’s new spectacles (Wired) * Snapchat Spectacles * Microsoft will bring Visual Studio to the Mac in November (WindowsCentral) * Secret backdoor in some U.S. phones sent data to China, analysts say (The New York Times) * A touch of giving with Apple Pay (Apple Newsroom) * “Thank You Friends” by Big Star  

As promised last week, this week’s episode catches up with the latest fall announcements from Microsoft and Apple. El Kaiser and J.D. also discuss the instant popularity of Google’s new Pixel phones, the withered Vine and shopping on Instagram. Happy November! Links to News Stories * Microsoft October Event news (Microsoft) * Apple unveils groundbreaking new MacBook Pro (Apple) * Apple releases significant update to Final Cut Pro X (Apple) * Apple unveils new TV app for Apple TV, iPhone & iPad (Apple) * New MacBook Pros and the State of the Mac (mjtsai.com/blog) * Google doling out $50 Play Store credits due to Pixel shipping delays (TechCrunch) * Google Online Security Blog: Disclosing vulnerabilities to protect users (Google blog) * Keeping the Play Store trusted: fighting fraud and spam installs (Android Developers Blog) * Twitter cuts 9% of staff and kills off Vine app (CNN Money) *  Shopping coming to Instagram (Instagram for Business) *  Roku TVs can now pause live over-the-air TV (CNET) * Study finds racial discrimination by Uber and Lyft drivers (Bloomberg) * The Digital Transition: How the Presidential transition works in the social media age (whitehouse.gov)

Last week’s massive denial-of-service attack (and resulting Internet outage) was big news all on its own, but toss in AT&T’s latest digital land grab and you have a jam-packed few days of tech news. After the weekly discussion of the recent headlines,  J.D. explores free or cheap word processors that cut down on toolbar clutter for minimal distraction when you’re probably already procrastinating that big writing deadline anyway. Come on along for this week’s episode of Pop Tech Jam! (Also, El Kaiser gently suggests that you change all your default router and device passwords.) Links to This Week’s News Stories * AT&T to acquire Time Warner (AT&T) * Regulatory microscope lies ahead for AT&T and Time Warner (New York Times) * AT&T and Time Warner seek to mollify deal’s critics (New York Times) * The last Time Warner deal was the worst deal in history. What is AT&T thinking? (ReCode) * Hackers wrecked the Internet using DVRs and webcams (Popular Mechanics) * Hacked cameras, DVRs powered today’s massive Internet outage (Krebs on Security) * Chinese firm admits its hacked products were behind Friday’s DDOS attack (Computerworld) * How hackers broke into John Podesta and Colin Powell’s Gmail accounts (Vice Motherboard) * Google has quietly dropped ban on personally identifiable Web tracking (ProPublica.org) * Jamboard — the whiteboard, reimagined for collaboration in the cloud (Google blog) * Airbnb sues over new law regulating New York rentals (New York Times) * PayPal enhances payment experience for Facebook and Messenger (PayPal) * Google, Visa and Mastercard want to get rid of passwords (CNBC) * The New York Times Company acquires The Wirecutter and The Sweethome (NYTCo) *