Nerd News Tracker

I'm not sure that voting via your smartphone is a good idea. In a world of hackers, of high competition for each vote, of accusations of fraud, hanging chads, dead voters, and more, why are we making it easier to fake the vote. Decades ago it was simple and...

The top headline here, about how our online subscription TV is saturated is something we've talked about on the show before. I've already started to take stock and push back, even though I have budget, because I can't justify another $5 a month for one show that I may...

Seeing one of these robots in person makes you concerned about the jobs that may be going away. I know that others are created to make the machines. I know about efficiency and accuracy. It's all part of a sadder future. Take this as a goal, be better than an...

A few weeks back, an announcement about a new robot pizza making wonder, and now another set of robots are out of business. Other robots in the automated market are also having problems. If you're on the unemployment line, and you see one of these metal machines,...

The latest news is that the blue light from our devices may not disrupt sleep any more than any other light. It's something that may have been based upon the major amounts of blue light from our sun, instead of actual evidence. Mice tested had no problems, but there's...

Serious kudos and praise to Wolf, a year old intern at NASA, who discovered a planet. He studied some data pertaining to a binary star system and determined that additional information indicated something more than just two stars. After being double checked and more,...

Just as Windows 7 falls off the support list, Microsoft is moving away from Edge, the replacement for Internet Explorer, to a Chrome based operating system. This kind of merge is likely to further make a deep gouge in what's left of Microsoft's browser share. Amazing...

A different type of spam is coming to you soon. It'll look and sound like the real thing, but isn't. 1/5th of tweets in the 2016 election were bots. 1/3rd of Brexit tweets. And now, we are getting towards the 2020 elections, and the digital world is more complex. This...

I can do all of these things. But stats speak for themselves: Respondents as follows: 43% said they know how to unclog a drain. 25% know how to install a drywall anchor. 39% said they can stop a running toilet all by themselves. 38% can find a stud. 31% know how to...

Previously unofficial, the idea of limiting speech was sometimes even denied. Now encapsulated into Twitter's EULA, this practice can just continue along and Twitter can say "we do what we want". In some countries, press is run by the dictator, and opponents are...

Your information has been under attack for ages. Your phone, your address, SSN, and more. Now it's thought that hackers may someday target your DNA itself, specifically looking for certain known gene issues, and more. Sure, it'll take a smarter breed of hackers for...

In the latest twist on free speech and communication, Twitter is now preparing to offer control over who can reply to you. Now in some ways that's fine, but we can't have a discourse if we shut down all those who disagree with us. When we shut down and shut out all...

"How do you know a politician is lying? His lips are moving." - Facebook declining to fact-check political ads is actually a good move. Why? Because the bias involved with modern "fact-checking" is overwhelming. Targeting ads? Again, no problem, as that's already done...

For what it's worth, this is a common type of crime. Fake invoices have been used for years to bilk employers out of monies. The issue that makes this most amazing is that the criminal is an IT manager, who should have known that Microsoft Word stores information that...

Reminder, I call out the political left and right for censorship. In this case, Amazon is threatening left leaning environmentalists, with losing their jobs if they don't stop their outspoken ways. Now it's unclear if these people are speaking as individuals, or are...

Mars missions should not be a surprise to us. This rover being sent to Mars is a precursor to a human mission, and while we don't have timing yet, I'm quite sure that we'll see something soon. Exciting excerpts talk about creating oxygen (needed for living and...

Outside parties determining what is a crime and what isn't is a fair concern for all. What concerns me is that when we start cutting off access, or determining International crimes, we may find that the long arm of the law of smaller countries may wind up with courts...

Leaving all politics out of this discussion: The CES Keynote is usually an amazing treat to all. My favorite was Steve Ballmer being absolutely insane. Ivanka Trump and her work for the tech world is doing good for everyone, and I'm excited to learn of the K-12 STEM...

Modern tech now enables a movie to be updated between screenings. We've been watching digital films, downloaded via the Internet for a number of years, but the movie "Cats" is now being revised due to it's poor reception. While it's unclear what special effects were...

The Gig economy is going to take a hit next month, as California sets in new rules. Vox media is just one example, as they are forced to reclassify select contractors as employees. I'm torn between ideas where contractors may get underpaid and abused, or the flip side...

In a new twist, your options for smarthome's may become far more, just through a little change. The new standard "Project Connected Home over IP" could eliminate many of the headaches involved in determining what products are best for you and your home. I've been...

This is something that has been around for a long time, but Facebook has finally admitted that they do track IP addresses, photo tags, and check-in's to determine and link a person to their device and location. This is something where even if you opt-out, you can be...

I'm torn on this article which in today's world could be a hit piece against this company, computerized voting, or even the results of the next election. It strikes fear, and does not seem to temper that fear. Still, I've long been concerned about the lack of...

The pace of this pizza maker is amazing at 300 custom pies per hour. The 300 burger a day flipper is an amateur, considering when I flipped burgers for McD's back in the 80's, I was flipping about an hour during lunch. The biggest question is how much is automated vs...

Some companies stick with logo's because they are timeless. Some will update with a constant shift to maintain both the history, and a new nature to them. Microsoft being the latter category, has updated over icons and logos yet again, with a heavy emphasis on blues...

Someone hacks your Ring, or other device, remember that sometimes a reboot is all that is needed.Amazon's Ring cameras are now commonplace in homes of early smart tech adopters across the country, but just how secure are they? Recent reports from Ring owners read like...

For as much as I might argue that we don't need these devices listening to us, a quick thinking 18 year old in a sinking car, used his Siri to call. Emergency response arrived shortly thereafter, and rescued the young man. This is a recurring plotline in a number of...

This is a recurring theme, and we've been discussing it for a while. The largest issue, however, is that someone is finally using the term that I use... Orwellian... over how China, and much of our tech is proceeding to spy on us. China is developing a new high-tech...

I'm troubled, not by the game itself, but the idea that people could abuse this game. The trailer presents an approach of what are likely cut scenes, fully prepared portions that substitute for gameplay, so I wonder exactly how much flexibility is within the game for...

In a twist, BMW's attack by charging 300 dollars plus 80 annually, just to get CarPlay, was squashed by buyers who want the latest tech. BMW finally turned around and is backpedaling quickly. It announced that most buyers will soon be spared. Now if we could only get...

The new statistics are in, talking about how much time that we devote to the small screen, arguing in front of it, and even how much time we spend deciding what to watch next... 2943 hours, if you're interested. The results don't tell us how much this affects our...

I've pondered about the restraint of Google for years. What started out years ago, as a simple premise, a search engine without ads and a motto of "Don't Be Evil", now has it's two leaders stepping down. In my never so humble opinion, it's way too late, as those...

With bullet proof glass, but not metal bearing proof glass, this new vehicle didn't take long to gain attention for all of the wrong reasons. The specs are impressive, but the looks are simplistic. The competition is also fierce, and this is considered by Tesla as...

Another instance where records were stored unsecured. This isn't a hack, but complete and total negligence on the part of Google, exposing phone numbers and linking them to various email addresses and social media accounts. This information was housed there by another...

This article is an interesting look into people who are quitting tech for a day, and finding a better handle on life. It's similar to something that I've suggested for years here on the radio show. Even taking off one day a month from your smartphone will make you...

Forget the initial concern about Amazon telling a senator how it's protecting privacy, while releasing video from privately owned cameras. I'm concerned about the idea of information from cameras being kept forever, shared freely, and no crime being involved....

This isn't as much of a news item as it should be, nor as revelating. It seems like more of a progression than actual journey into full fledged AI. Still, the main company, Covenant Eyes, has been around for a long time, as well as the mentioned X3watch.com and a...

Amazing that you can even get a college student to ditch their phone, but some did. The tech-free time is something that is important for all of us, and if these two dozen youth can do it, so can you!They survived! Nearly two dozen Adelphi University students made it...

Scams become more prevalent at this time of year, and this is a recurring scam. Nobody is giving away gobs of money just because you passed it along to someone else. Actually, most successful companies prefer that you not spread amazing coupons around because they...

The most recognizable name in mail-order is about to take on CVS, Walgreens, WalMart, and Express Scripts. That last one? Yep, mail-order pharmacy. PillPack delivers your meds bundled together every 30 days. You'll lose out if you get a discount for 90 days, and...

It's been a long time since I've considered an alternative to Facebook. Jimmy Wales, a co-founder of Wikipedia, has decided that he's got something in WT:Social. It's a little different in appearance, but one thing going for it... no ads, and a promise of similarities...

Years ago, Eddie Murphy was on top of the world with Beverly Hills Cop, then the sequel. But it all went sour with the third movie. Netflix, however, thinks they can bring this franchise back from the very dead. Netflix has turned a lot of interesting items into gold,...

Disney+ has smoothed out the problems in the days since, but it was interesting for a short while. At the same time, it's reported that over 10 Million subscribers have already joined up. Verizon also struck a nice deal with Disney+, and I'm sure that's not going to...

An amazing item to think about, a DJ who feels the music, instead of listening. An interesting companion piece to our discussion in Hour 2 with Steve Keske.Meet a Washingtonian using his love of music to help others "visualize a future without limits." See full story...

Television will rot your brain. We've been hearing this for decades, and the screens are smaller now, but there may be some truth to the addictive nature of the screens. We are witnessing a generation that is coming, that will have been using these screens since they...

Socialist/left wing tech company censors conservative Jewish commentator Dennis Prager again, but now it's the Google Play store. This shameless censorship of political opponents happened before, and will continue over and over again. What exactly is so dangerous...

I am formed by my experiences, the good and the bad. If I eliminate the bad experiences, then I eliminate a part of who I am. I remove a part of what I've done with my life. In these cases, people were freed from memories of betrayals... which could potentially leave...

Amazing discrimination against a street artist. Paypal cancelled the account for the left leaning political views. If you are outraged over this... then you should be equally outraged to find out that the street artist is a conservative that was censored. On Monday...

In one of the most outrageous cases of a company giving away your personal information, making MILLIONS of dollars, they got a slap on the wrist. The idea of a $644,000 fine is like fining you $4 for going 90 miles an hour in a school zone. Of course, that's the UK,...

Got the Apple Card? Want to save money and pay no interest? Yep, 3% discount from Apple, AND no interest on your iPhone purchase. Didn't take them long, but that's really slick marketing. Of course, the profit margin on all smartphones is insane, but that's another...

The headline leaves off that it's 29 of 34 projects, but it's not exactly a news flash. Allow me to reword this shocking news: Far Left Tech Company Funds Far Left News Sources. Remember, I believe in no bias in reporting, left or right. We have to take care as to...

Remember just a few months ago when everyone said that they were stopping human reviews of audio commands and dictation? I said then, that they would come back soon enough under the guise of improvement. Guess what...Apple is resuming the use of humans to review Siri...