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🎧 This Week in Google: #416 Mr. Nutter Butter Has a Message for You | TWiT.TV

Listened to This Week in Google: #416 Mr. Nutter Butter Has a Message for You from TWIT.tv
US Digital Service - making government better. Alphabet Q2 earnings up, stocks down. Chrome's ad blocker is available to devs. Not everybody likes Google's plan to track offline sales. Is privacy a fad? Facebook hits 2 billion users. Bitcoin splits, and miners revolt. ACLU supports John Oliver. Millennials confused by discovery of broadcast TV. Jeff's Number: $600/head SV restaurant with gold-flecked steaks Matt Cutt's Thing: Hack the Pentagon! Kevin Marks' Stuff: IndieWeb.org, Liberty Foundation, extra thumb prosthetic

Awesome to see/hear Matt Cutts return to the show.

🎧 This Week in Google: #415 Sinkhole Ahead! | TWiT.TV

Listened to This Week in Google: #415 Sinkhole Ahead! from TWIT.tv
No more "OK Google" search on Chromebooks? Facebook profit spikes 71%, laws of Australia trump laws of mathematics? Waze is now on Android Auto, and more.

Interesting that all the growth in mobile ads has recently gone to Facebook and Google. I’m surprised that no one else is eating up even a small piece of the pie.

I also loved the story about the Australian prime minister, in a post-fact world, indicating that the laws of mathematics don’t take precedence over those of Australia.

🎧 This Week in Google: #414 Never a Freshman | TWiT.TV

Listened to This Week in Google: #414 Never a Freshman from TWIT.tv
Musical Podcasts. Google Glass for Enterprise. New Google Feed. Better Google Analytics. Facebook News Subscription. Amazon Meal Kits, Spark, Treasure Truck, and Outfit Compare. Samsung Bixby arrives in the US. Net Neutrality Day results.

Musical podcasts sound like an interesting proposition, but are likely better as a larger production stream. I’m curious what the budget was for the piece and how they’re monetizing it?

I’ve been wondering about Bixby on my Samsung 8, but somehow I’ve never really bothered to use it. It doesn’t seem as interesting or as easy to use as my Amazon Alexa. Perhaps it’s time to dig into it a bit? I have been enjoying some minor Alexa use on my phone recently. I’m curious how they compare now.

🎧 This Week in Google: #413 You Never Know What’s Not Going to Happen | TWIT.TV

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Today is the Net Neutrality Day of Action. Go to BattleForTheNet.com and write your congressperson. Also, The Pixel XL 2 may feature a squeezable frame. Allo is coming to the desktop in "a few weeks." Android 7.1 has "Panic Detection" mode. Facebook will sell ads in Messenger. Amazon Prime Day sales up 60% over last year's record-setting haul - with Echo Dot as the top-selling item. Samsung Galaxy Note 8 may explode onto the scene on August 23rd. Make Nokia great again. China teleports matter to space. Jeff's Numbers: Google spends $800,000 on newsbots that write 30,000 articles a month in the UK. Google doesn't owe France 1.1bn euros in back taxes. Danny's Stuff: Silk Vault Slim Wallet Case, The Big Sick Stacey's Thing: Fibaro HomeKit Sensors

🎧 This Week in Google: #411 Dinah Won’t You Blow | TWiT.TV

Listened to This Week in Google: #411 Dinah Won't You Blow from TWIT.tv
EU fines Google €2.42 billion, Canada demands global de-listing. Google News' redesign causes Jeff concern. YouTube Party. Amazon Show unboxing. Facebook hits 2 billion users. Petya ransomware may be retaliation for Russian cyberwarfare on Ukraine. Jeff's report from Vidcon.

https://youtu.be/bRI078mWrxg

🎧 This Week in Google: #410 Addicted to Convenience | TWIT.TV

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Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods and how it could change grocery stores. The transition from an economy of goods to one of experiences. Uber and Lyft get their way in Texas after refusing to comply with an ordinance requiring fingerprint background checks for drivers. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick resigns and whether or not the corporate culture of Uber was necessary for its success. Stacey's Thing: Radical Technologies - The Design of Every Day Life by Adam Greenfield Mike's Number: 18, the number of Girl Scout badges introduced for cybersecurity education Leo's Tool: Search for "Spinner" on Google

I enjoyed the discussion of the purchase of Whole Foods by Amazon. I had described a big chunk of the value there as Amazon buying up a lot of the only warehouse space available in housing zoned areas while they described it as solving the last mile problem in local delivery. This is essentially the same thing, though they didn’t mention Amazon’s experiments with delivery via drones which could easily become a reality with not only warehouse space, but landing pads and bases in every big neighborhood with a Whole Foods located within them.

It was cool to hear the news about Girl Scouts adding lots of cybersecurity badges to their list.

🎧 This Week in Google: #409 Practical Telepathy | TWIT.TV

Listened to This Week in Google: #409 Practical Telepathy from TWIT.TV
Leo, Jeff, and Stacey are all off this week, so Jason Howell, Ron Richards, and Kevin Marks are in charge. The Essential phone will be a Sprint exclusive, but that doesn't mean you can't buy one and use it with whatever service you want. Google's successor to the Pixel XL may be getting even bigger, and might get made by LG this time around. The current Pixel XL will self-destruct on October of 2018. Google's cute little self-driving cars are self-driving off into the sunset. Google Drive wants to back up your whole computer. Softbank is buying Boston Dynamics. Google's Project Sunroof lets you know which neighbors have solar power. Facebook expands safety check in a possibly stressful way. Kevin's Pick: IndieWeb and IndieWeb Summit Ron's Pick: Astro Jason's Pick: pix2pix fotogenerator

The conversation about how Facebook is doing their safety check is intriguing. How should they be doing it better to inform people who might be concerned, but without creating undue stress to others who generally aren’t involved or nearby? This is particularly interesting to me as I’m often near to frequent forest fires in Los Angeles, not to mention the future potential of major earthquake events.

🎧 This Week in Google: #408 Being Internet Awesome | TWIT.TV

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Google will add a feature to Chrome that will block "bad ads." Meanwhile, Funding Choices will let you pay sites for an ad-free experience. Google helps kids "Be Internet Awesome." Amazon announces a way to get Prime on the cheap, and an inexpensive "Ice" phone. HomePod vs Google Home vs Amazon Echo.... FIGHT! Jason's Pick: Kotlin for Beginners (Udacity) Stacey's Thing: Snooz Danny's Stuff: Personal Search Tab

🎧 This Week in Google: #407 Grepping Mary Meeker | TWIT.TV

Listened to This Week in Google: #407 Grepping Mary Meeker from TWIT.tv
Government's role in online privacy. Mary Meeker's 2017 Internet trends report. Android creator Andy Rubin's new Essential phone. The true meaning of "covfefe." Does Netflix care about Net Neutrality? Chipotle hacked. Google's expensive gender pay gap.

Chipotle just can’t catch a break anymore.

I remember there used to be days when Meeker’s report would consume an entire episode of shows like this, and now it seems like it barely gets a passing message because it’s become so dense.

🎧 This Week in Google: #406 Call Me Mr. Pruneface | TWIT.TV

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Google releases the Jamboard, their smart whiteboard. How Google's ATAP has changed. Google can now track your offline credit card purchases. Why is it so hard to get Android apps on Chromebooks? What is Fuschia? Android Automotive will take over your car's dashboard. Java creator James Gosling is going to AWS. 1Password introduces Travel Mode to protect you at the border. Chaos Computer Club demonstrates how to hack Samsung's Iris Detection with just a camera and a contact lens. The FCC really wants to kill net neutrality, and they will beat you up if you ask them polite questions. Ford's new CEO is all about self-driving cars, but Waymo has a huge lead over everyone else. Uber angers customers, drivers, and pretty much the entire city of Pittsburgh. Jeff's Number: Google Street view is 10 years old, and artists love it. Stacey's Thing: WeMo Dimmer Switch Ron Amadeo's Stuff: Elegato Stream Deck

Net neutrality again? Why can’t the FCC just give up on trying to kill it?

🎧 This Week in Google: #405 Google I/O | TWIT.TV

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Leo Laporte, Jason Howell, and Jeff Jarvis report live from Google I/O to discuss today's keynote. Stacey Higginbotham joins them from Austin, TX.

Sad that it didn’t sound like anything new and shiny coming immediately out of the presentations. Lots of tech happening, but it’ll be a while before we see direct results.

🎧 Episode 41: Danger (Seeing White, Part 11) | Scene on Radio

Listened to Episode 41: Danger (Seeing White, Part 11) by John Biewen and Chenjerai Kumanyika from Scene on Radio

For hundreds of years, the white-dominated American culture has raised the specter of the dangerous, violent black man. Host John Biewen tells the story of a confrontation with an African American teenager. Then he and recurring guest Chenjerai Kumanyika discuss that longstanding image – and its neglected flipside: white-on-black violence.

🎧 Episode 40: Citizen Thind (Seeing White, Part 10) | Scene on Radio

Listened to Episode 40: Citizen Thind (Seeing White, Part 10) by John Biewen and Chenjerai Kumanyika from Scene on Radio

The story of Bhagat Singh Thind, and also of Takao Ozawa – Asian immigrants who, in the 1920s, sought to convince the U.S. Supreme Court that they were white in order to gain American citizenship. Thind’s “bargain with white supremacy,” and the deeply revealing results.

I’m embarrassed to say that I’d never heard these stories or known about any of these laws and their history. Or worse, I’m embarrassed to say that the education system has failed me and millions of others. This sort of history should be broadly known in America.

🎧 Episode 39: A Racial Cleansing in America (Seeing White Part 9) | Scene on Radio

Listened to Episode 39: A Racial Cleansing in America (Seeing White Part 9) by John Biewen and Chenjerai Kumanyika from Scene on Radio

In 1919, a white mob forced the entire black population of Corbin, Kentucky, to leave, at gunpoint. It was one of many racial expulsions in the United States. What happened, and how such racial cleansings became “America’s family secret.”

Download a transcript of the episode.

The history of Corbin as presented by the Corbin city government, with no mention of the 1919 racial expulsion.

Elliot Jaspin’s book, Buried in the Bitter Waters: The Hidden History of Racial Cleansings in America

Another in a long line of stories and history I wished I had learned in US History. I knew things were bad having grown up in the American South. I had no idea that they were this painfully bad. Holy shit.

🎧 Episode 37: Chenjerai’s Challenge (Seeing White, Part 7) | Scene on Radio

Listened to Episode 37: Chenjerai’s Challenge (Seeing White, Part 7) by John Biewen with special guest Chenjerai Kumanyika from Scene on Radio

“How attached are you to the idea of being white?” Chenjerai Kumanyika puts that question to host John Biewen, as they revisit an unfinished conversation from a previous episode. Part 7 of our series, Seeing White.

Photo: Composite image: Chenjerai Kumanyika, left; photo by Danusia Trevino. And John Biewen, photo by Ewa Pohl.

Relistened to this episode as a prelude to getting back into it after a long summer. Glad that there are so many more episodes to catch up on.