Tech Podcasts

When looking for new music, it’s easy to let a streaming service’s algorithm recommend songs similar to music you already like. Those types of algorithms are the focus of new book from NBC News tech Correspondent Jacob Ward. In today’s show, Ward argues that those algorithms may have us in a feedback loop that dulls our critical thinking.

Seth Green's NFT stolen, DuckDuckGo and Microsoft, Apple Union battle  Someone Stole Seth Green's Bored Ape And Star Of His New NFT Show.  Best Crypto Wallets by Nicholas De Leon.  A California bill could allow parents to sue social-media companies for up to $25,000 if their children become addicted to the platforms.  Court upholds the block on Florida's social media 'censorship' law.  Senator Klobuchar Fixed None Of The Problems With Her Antitrust Bill; But Made Sure To Carve Out ACTUAL Monopolists Like Telcos And Finance Companies.  DuckDuckGo browser allows Microsoft trackers due to search agreement.  These Period Tracker Apps Say They Put Privacy First. Here's What We Found.  Apple VP kindly reminds retail workers that they can say no to unions.  We Tried Apple's Self Repair Program. You Shouldn't. (Probably).  Apple Shows AR/VR Headset to Board in Sign of Progress on Key Project.  Microsoft is making a native Arm version of Visual Studio 2022 and a mini PC.  Elon Musk Called Out for Using Stolen Cartoon to Illustrate Twitter Takeover.  Twitter shareholders sue Elon Musk and Twitter over chaotic deal.  After 17 years, Peter Thiel has officially left Meta's board.  DC attorney general sues Mark Zuckerberg over Cambridge Analytica scandal.  Twitter to pay $150 mln to settle with U.S. over privacy, security violations.  Want to make it in the music industry? You better go viral on TikTok.  Elizabeth Holmes pleaded with a judge to overturn her Theranos convictions, citing 'insufficient evidence'.  End of an era as New York removes last public payphone.  Analog City: NYC B.C. (Before Computers). Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Georgia Dow, Nicholas De Leon, and Andy Ihnatko Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: zapier.com/TWIT UserWay.org/twit drinktrade.com/twit privacy.com/twit

How to set up a failover router. Which platform is best for buying ads? Why did an LG phone fail a "routine safety check?" What is cryptocurrency? Alternatives to SlingBox. What's the no-sender glitch on iPhone? How to digitize old family photos. Can you output video from an all-in-one computer? What is Starry? Plus, a conversation with Sam Abuelsamid. Seth Green's Bored Ape stolen: now he can't make his NFT show. Setting up a failover router & dynamic IP's. Sam Abuelsamid and the Kia EV6. Most efficient ads one can buy to promote something. Locked out of Windows account after attempting to install Microsoft Office. Why a LG phone failed a "routine safety check." What is Cryptocurrency and what can you do with it? Are there SlingBox alternatives after support has ended for the product? What's the no-sender glitch on iPhone? Digitizing old family photos. A caller's universal remote is not working with their TV. Outputting video from an all-in-one computer. Starry: another option for an ISP? Host: Leo Laporte Guest: Sam Abuelsamid Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Show notes and links for this episode are available at: https://twit.tv/shows/the-tech-guy/episodes/1898 Download or subscribe to this show at: https://twit.tv/shows/all-twittv-shows Sponsor: twit.cachefly.com

Huawei and ZTE are banned in Canada. It's a move that's mostly political, and based moreso on their networking hardware than phones. The gang chime in on that, plus a preview of Nothing phone components, Pixel Watch, and more. Links: Huawei and ZTE are now banned in Canada over cybersecurity concerns | Android Central Nothing phone (1) preview highlights internal components, unified design | Android Central Pixel Watch and Pixel 7 could make me ditch Apple for good | Android Central The Pixel Watch sounds like a powerhouse despite its aging chipset | Android Central Wear OS 3 was absent at Google I/O 2022, but that’s just fine | Android Central Wear OS companion app opens up beta program, could be a sign of things to come | Android Central Sponsors: Indeed: Choose Indeed and join 3 million companies worldwide who use Indeed to hire great people and help grow their teams faster. Get started right now with a free $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/acp. Offer valid for a limited time. Terms and conditions apply. Truebill: Don’t fall for subscription scams. Start cancelling today at truebill.com/acp. It could save you THOUSANDS a year.

Tom finds the the rise of a new snackness and Molly gets into a fashionable wearable. Then Tom finds the social thing for the youths, while Molly looks for things in the stars.LINKS:TakisOura RingYuboCostar See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Street View for Google Maps launched 15 years ago this week, and Google is taking advantage of the anniversary to drop some updates, including a major update to the Street View mapping hardware. The one most people can immediately enjoy, though, is the ability to “go back in time” on Street View using Google Maps for Android or iOS. This feature has been available on the web for a while now, but it’s being added to the Maps app for the first time. Accessing this historical data is pretty straightforward: just get into Street View and tap anywhere on the image to pull up details about the location. After that, you’ll find a “see more dates” option that pulls in all other Street View captures for the location. Obviously, this will only work for locations where Google has a lot of historical Street View data, so what you’ll be able to find will vary widely by location. Google says that how often it scans areas for Street View depends on factors like how frequently the area changes, how popular it is and how difficult it is to get to. Street View first launched in San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas, Miami and Denver, so those places will have the oldest historical data for the curious.For those interested in the hardware Google uses to get Street View data, the company is announcing a big update to its camera system. Google says that the new camera (pictured above) has all the resolution and processing capabilities that are in the full Street View car, but it’s a 15-pound device that is “roughly the size of a house cat.” The company hopes this will make it easier to get data from under-mapped areas of the world; one example of such a place Google gave was the Amazon jungle. A camera system this small, relatively speaking, will be a lot easier for Google to deploy in more areas — it can be shipped anywhere and mounted to any type of vehicle. As long as it has a roof rack, Google says it’ll be good to go. Google says that historically, it had to create totally new camera systems to fit whatever area they wanted to capture, but the new camera is modular and customizable. It’ll serve as the “base” system that can be added to should the circumstances require it. For example, Google notes that the new camera doesn’t have the lidar scanners typically found on Street View cars that operate in cities, but they can be added on when they’re needed. Google says that the new camera system is being tested now and expects it’ll fully roll out in 2023. Finally, Google is adding four new collections of Street View imagery from some pretty noteworthy locales. The Pyramids of Meroë in Sudan, The Duomo in Milan, Les Invalides in Paris and the Sydney Ferries in Australia (the last one is coming later this year). The Duomo in particular shows off the inside of the largest cathedral in Italy as well as the exterior, while there's a virtual tour available of Les Invalides in Paris. To check these new sites out, visit Google's blog for direct links.

Logitech’s MX Master mice are simply unmatched when it comes to premium productivity (despite what my colleague James says). However, while I like the Craft and MX Keys, the company’s keyboards don’t enjoy quite the same level of dominance. But after testing out the new MX Mechanical, it’s clear Logitech finally has a high-end option to match its mice.The big upgrade is that, instead of using switches with rubber domes, Logitech's latest offerings feature mechanical switches just like you’d get on its gaming keyboards. In fact, Logitech says they’re actually the same exact switches, with some small tweaks for things like noise and lighting to better suit the home office market. And again just like its gaming keyboards, you now get the option of three different switches: clicky, linear and tactile quiet. Sam Rutherford/Engadget The impact of this is immediately apparent – even for someone like me who doesn’t think rubber dome switches are an affront to civilized society. Instead of slightly spongy keypresses, the MX Mechanical offers crisp actuation with generous travel and zero side-to-side wobble. The keys feature a 19mm pitch to support a more comfortable typing position, and notably unlike the MX Keys, there are fold-out tabs in back in case you need some extra elevation. The main downside is that while the MX Mechanical has low-profile keycaps, the added height of its new switches means it can’t match the sleekness of Logitech’s rubber-domed alternatives.Over the course of a week, I used all the various models, though I ended up settling on the MX Mechanical Mini with linear switches. (I typically prefer keyboards that use Cherry MX Reds, or the nearest equivalent.) Logitech also dampened the noise of the switches compared to most mechanical keyboards, so you get a softer audible “clack” instead of the muffled “pat” of rubber dome boards. Fans of Cherry MX Blues should opt for Logitech's clicky switches, which have that classic high-pitched tick. Sam Rutherford/Engadget Logitech opted for a 75 percent layout on the Mini, which ditches the number pad, but retains full-size arrow keys along with a handy row of productivity keys on the right for stuff like Page Up, Page Down and Delete. While some 60-percent keyboards feel a little too spartan, the MX Mechanical Mini strikes a great balance between compactness and functionality.In the process of bringing some of its gamer sensibilities to the productivity world, Logitech also cut out stuff like RGB lighting in favor of a pure white glow. That said, you do get six different lighting effects like breathing, wave and reaction, which adds a bit of pizzaz without becoming distracting. And while some people might hate it, I kind of like that Logitech included the dedicated emoji key it introduced on the MX Keys Mini. Sam Rutherford/Engadget The rest of the MX Mechanical’s features match what you’d expect from one of Logitech’s flagship peripherals. You can use the keyboard wired, or wireless via Bluetooth or the company’s Bolt receiver. (Though, sadly, there’s still no USB-C model.) And thanks to the Options app, it’s super simple to change shortcuts, set specific hotkeys for individual programs, or sync the keyboard with up to three different computers simultaneously. The keyboard even boasts great battery life, lasting up to 10 months on a charge if you leave its backlight off, or 15 days with it on. Here's how the height of the new MX Mechanical compares to the MX Keys, which features rubber dome switches.  Sam Rutherford/Engadget Finally, for those looking to pair Logitech’s latest keyboard with a new mouse, there’s also the revamped MX Master 3S. It features almost exactly the same design and specs as the previous model, except that now it’s available in white and it has a new 8,000 DPI sensor (up from 4,000 on the original MX Master 3

Geoff Tice (@GeoffreyTice) is the OTHER half of Grid Penalty podcast and WE talk about the scandal and personalities of Formula One Racing. Also called, billionaire’s sons are CHARMING. Donate to The Dork Forest if you like the show. There’s paypal links is my email and venmo is jackiekashian. Links to everything is at www.dorkforest.com or . New album -STAY-KASHIAN is out NOW. Merch: TDF tshirts, standup shirts and other CDs and just videos of my comedy. Touring Info. All the things. jackiekashian.com Premium eps of TDF are taped live and available here: https://thedorkforest.bandcamp.com/ Youtube has everything too. It's @jackiekashian on all the social mediaz. Audio and Video by Patrick Brady Music is by Mike Ruekberg Website design by Vilmos #applepodcasts #spotify #pandora #youtube #tiktok

Starting later this year, NVIDIA will begin selling a liquid-cooled version of its A100 GPU for data centers. The GPU maker is positioning the video card as a way for cloud computing companies to make their facilities more energy-efficient. It may seem unintuitive, but by adding a water block to the component, data centers can reduce their dependence on inefficient air- and water-based chillers.In testing, NVIDIA claims a facility outfitted with its water-cooled A100 GPUs ran the same workload as an air-cooled data center while using about 30 percent less power. The new version of the A100 is also more space-efficient. Thanks to its water block design, it occupies a single PCIe slot instead of two like its air-cooled sibling.In the consumer market, we’ve already seen companies like EVGA offer GPUs with built-in water blocks, and companies like EK sell aftermarket units you can install on your existing video card. We’re hopeful today’s announcement is a sign that NVIDIA plans to push water-cooled GPUs toward the mainstream. In the meantime, the company has begun sending out samples of the new A100 to enterprise customers. It also plans to introduce a water-cooled version of its H100 Tensor Core GPU sometime next year.

New Jersey’s Acting Attorney General has launched a probe into Twitch and Discord to see if the platforms broke laws on hateful and extremist content following a recent mass shooting in Buffalo. In an announcement published Monday, New Jersey's Acting Attorney General Matthew Platkin wrote that the purpose of the investigation was to find out if policy or moderation failures allowed the platforms to become vectors for spreading extremist content, especially among young people. The investigation follows a similar one launched by New York Attorney General Letitia James last week.The 18-year-old who has been charged with shooting 13 people at a Tops supermarket, killing 10—used Discord to spread his white supremacist ideology, and broadcast the attack live on Twitch. Across a swath of posts online, he credited racist memes and discussions on 4chan with inspiring him to specifically target Black people for deadly violence. Eleven of the Buffalo shooting victims were Black. The events of May 14 have been called a "hate crime" and "an act of racially motivated violent extremism," by Attorney General Merrick Garland, and are being investigated by the Department of Justice. The suspect, who Engadget is choosing not to name so as not to further add to the infamy he appeared to seek, has plead not guilty to first-degree murder.“These social media platforms have enormous reach, especially with young people, and have shown themselves to be staging grounds for hateful and extremist content that may radicalize children and others,” said Acting AG Platkin. “New Jersey has a substantial interest in investigating how these companies moderate and prohibit content that may harm consumers. Under New Jersey law companies must deliver on their promises, and the persistence of violent extremism and hateful conduct on these platforms casts doubt on their purported content moderation and enforcement policies and practices.”In a blog post, Discord revealed that the alleged shooter kept a diary of his plans on a private server on the platform. Roughly half an hour before the attack, he shared an invitation to the server "within a small number of other private servers and direct messages." In total, 15 users clicked on his invite, according to the company. The suspect also live-streamed the attack on Twitch with the assistance of a Go-Pro camera attached to a helmet. Twitch removed the original livestream two minutes after it was posted, and approximately 22 viewers were watching at the time of broadcasting. Copies of the footage, however, have continued to proliferate on a variety of social media platforms.A Discord spokesperson told that the company plans to cooperate with the New Jersey attorney general’s investigation. Engadget has also reached out to Twitch for comment, which did not provide a response by the time of publication.It’s unclear whether New York and New Jersey will coordinate their investigations. (Engadget reached out to the New Jersey attorney general’s office, and will update if we receive a response.) While New York under state executive laws that allow for investigations into "matters concerning public peace, public safety, and public justice," New Jersey is instead leveraging the state's Consumer Fraud Act. “Companies cannot advertise that they will do one thing, then do another," Cari Fais, New Jersey's Acting Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs, said. "If these platforms represent that they will proactively moderate or prohibit violent extremism and hate, and then let it flourish unchecked with potentially harmful or even deadly consequences, it is unlawful.” 

When Rode unveiled the original Rodecaster Pro it was something unusual: a capable mixing desk with a singular focus on podcasting. It made it easy to record multiple guests in person or over the internet/phone, while adding background music and audio enhancements in real time or with minimal processing in post. A mini radio station in a box if you will.Today, Rode is announcing its successor, the Rodecaster Pro II, and the messaging this time is that it’s for all creators, be that podcasting, streaming or music production. The new hardware looks familiar, but brings with it several changes that should improve your audio wherever and whatever you publish.The most obvious difference you’ll see here is the smaller footprint. The Rodecaster Pro II loses two physical fader strips in favor of occupying less desk space. You still have as many channels available, but some are assigned to virtual controls and it feels like the right move to save desk space.Other external hardware tweaks include an all new contextual rotary control and the move to combo ports around the back rather than just straight XLR connections like the original. This opens the Rodecaster Pro II to things like guitars and synthesizers without occupying other inputs or needing adapters. James Trew / Engadget Whatever you plug into the new Rodecaster it should sound better as it comes equipped with new preamps that can drive even the most hungry of microphones (looking at you SM7B). Rode claims the new preamps are so powerful and quiet that using an in-line signal booster like a FetHed or Cloudlifter would technically be detrimental, not beneficial, to your audio quality. This remains to be tested, of course, but it’s good news either way if you have a microphone that needs a lot of gain.On the listening side of things, Bluetooth on the Rodecaster Pro II supports audio out as well as in, which means you can get funky and monitor your show wirelessly on speakers or headphones. Rode also claims if you record call-in guests over Bluetooth there should be improved sound quality also (at least between the phone and the mixer – obviously not the cellular network).Semi relatedly, there’s no longer a 3.5mm headphone jack on the front edge. On the original, the show’s host/producer could connect their headphones either around the back (with the other headphone jacks) or via the dedicated jack on the front, if that was more convenient. Alas that option has now gone and headphone 1 is only accessible via the 1/4 inch ports on the rear. A mild pain if you have a shorter/non-coiled cable.On a more practical front, the new hardware has WiFi built-in and ethernet connectivity which allows for easy updating (without having to leave your computer on). You can also connect it to two PCs at the same time, or even your phone which makes it perfect for podcasters on the go or game streamers who have a separate gaming rig. You’ll also be able to record directly to SSDs as well as memory cards. And with that dual-PC connectivity your options for routing where your audio goes are myriad. James Trew / Engadget Perhaps the secret sauce here is how customizable the workflow is. This starts with simple things like the eight pads on the Rodecaster Pro II can trigger audio or send MIDI as before but also be assigned to “mixer actions” like a fade out or be used to switch cameras in your stream. You can also reassign mixer channels however you like, including mapping two inputs to one fader and saving them as profiles if you don’t like how things are out of the box.There are also a number of new audio effects including stereo panning, echo and reverb. But perhaps the most unexpected addition here are some funny voice effects. This might make podcasters recoil, but Voicemod has proven popular… so somebody somewhere is all about the squeaky voices.Overall, there’s quite a lot new here. The new audio internals and connectivity

Former PlayStation employee Emma Majo has filed a new lawsuit against the company after her previous complaint was dismissed by a federal judge in April. According to Axios, Majo’s new filing includes many of the same gender discrimination allegations found in her original one, but the scope of the lawsuit is more limited.Rather than seeking to represent all women employed by Sony’s PlayStation unit in the US as was previously her intent, the complaint instead seeks damages for those women who worked for the company in California. When judge Laurel Beeler dismissed the original case, she said Majo could file again with additional details. The new complaint incorporates allegations from the nine women who came forward to support the first suit.“Sony tolerates and cultivates a work environment that discriminates against female employees, including female employees and those who identify as female,” the complaint reads. We’ve reached out to Sony for comment. In the meantime, we'll note the company previously asserted Majo’s claims were based on “unactionable allegations.”

Is the human race on the edge of extinction? And is technology the reason why humanity’s future existence is so hazy right now? Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Erin Carson, Roger Chang, Joe, Amos MP3 Download Using a Screen Reader? Click here Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org Follow us on Twitter Instgram YouTubeContinue reading "Is Human Extinction Inevitable? – DTNS 4281"

Airbnb is shutting down its business in mainland China this summer due to mounting costs and domestic competition, reported CNBC. The online vacation rental platform first launched operations in China in 2016, spurred by enthusiasm from Chinese tourists who frequently use it while traveling abroad. But according to sources who spoke to CNBC, Airbnb’s China segment became too complex and expensive to operate, particularly in light of the pandemic. Similar to what happened with Uber in China, a bevy of local competitors made it tough for the American company to gain an edge. Stays in China only accounted for one percent of the platform’s revenue for the past few years.While a growing number of cities have banned or passed restrictive laws on short-term rentals, Airbnb's fallout in China was due to entrenched competition and regulatory issues. Airbnb China operated differently than other Airbnb operations in other countries due to constraints by the Chinese government. The company was forced to sign agreements with local city governments and store its data on government servers.Another more recent obstacle for Airbnb was an inconsistent flow of international and domestic visitors due to the pandemic, given China's significant restrictions on travel. While global tourism is on the mend, the number of international tourist arrivals still hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels according to figures by the UN World Tourism Organization. The Chinese government has also limited “unnecessary travel” for its citizens in light of a recent surge in COVID-19 numbers, scaling back the number of potential domestic users for Airbnb.

Meta is finally peeling back the curtain on how political and election ads are targeted on Facebook. The company is making information about how political and “social issue” ads are targeted available to researchers and the public, Meta said in an update.Researchers who are part of the company’s Facebook Open Research and Transparency (FORT) program will get access to the most detailed information. “This data will be provided for each individual ad and will include information like the interest categories chosen by advertisers,” Facebook writes.The company had previously experimented with making some targeting data available to researchers via FORT last year, but the information was only available for political ads during a three-month period before the 2020 election. Now, researchers will also be able access “all social issue, electoral and political ads run globally since August 2020.”Meta is also making a more limited amount of political ad-targeting data available to the public via its Ad Library. That update, expected in July, will allow anyone to see more general information about how specific Facebook Pages are targeting their ads. “This update will include data on the total number of social issue, electoral and political ads a Page ran using each type of targeting (such as location, demographics and interests) and the percentage of social issue, electoral and political ad spend used to target those options,” the company writes. “For example, the Ad Library could show that over the last 30 days, a Page ran 2,000 ads about social issues, elections or politics, and that 40% of their spend on these ads was targeted to ‘people who live in Pennsylvania’ or ‘people who are interested in politics.’” Facebook Questions about how political ads are targeted on Facebook have been a thorny topic for the company. Researchers have long argued that understanding how election and political ads are targeted is just as important as having a record of the people and organizations behind each ad. But Meta has resisted making detailed targeting data available, citing privacy concerns.But that hasn’t stopped groups from trying to study the issue on their own. A team at New York University created a browser extension to help them understand how political ads are targeted on Facebook. Using the data, they uncovered multiple flaws in Facebook’s Ad Library. Meta accused the team of scraping and disabled their accounts, which also cut off their ability to use the company’s CrowdTangle tool to study misinformation.Making more detailed targeting information available through FORT may still not go as far as some researchers would like — researchers still need to be vetted and approved by Facebook to access FORT — but it at least offers one avenue where the data is available. And, with the 2022 midterms coming up later this year, there’s likely to be significant interest in learning more about how political ads spread through Facebook.