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Posts tagged security
Ep. 283 – Romance talk with Deputy Chief Inspector Greg Campbell
Oct 9th
TOPIC: Believe it! No, TechTalk is not going the way of TMZ or TLC, and we don’t get into the latest celebrity tiff … what we do get is a ton of great information and fun conversation with Greg Campbell, whose office is responsible for investigating mail crime! It turns out that the United States Postal Inspection Service is intimately involved in romance scams, grandparent scams, and more. Anything that results in a piece of mail being sent, Greg finds out about it. I trust him when he says he has a unique set of skills, developed over a lifetime of service …
Not only do you get a great interview, but we also have time for just a few cool sites of the week:
- Postal Inspectors Office – Do you want more information about what we discussed on-air? Have you been a victim of an Internet scam? Here’s where you can get more info and submit a request for assistance!
- Stop ZombieMouth – PopCap Games is giving away free Plants vs. Zombies games for Halloween this year! Save your teeth at the same time you save the plants!
“I Wish I Could Go Traveling Again” by Stacey Kent is the cool song of the week!
Ep. 278 – Deep Geek
Sep 4th
TOPIC: After listening to the sounds of his own voice rattling around the station for a while (talking Facebook security changes, an unfortunate TechTalk email implosion, and more), Mike brings Jay Garmon back to the studio. Deep geek ensues, and Jay asks this well-timed question:
Who were the two individuals or organizations that Neil Armstrong sued to keep them from profiting from his name?
We have so much fun there’s not much time for coolsites, but we do get a couple in:
- ScanMyEssay.com – Worried about plagiarism (from either side of the pedagogical podium?) Upload it here and find out if you’ve got a copying culprit!
- DyingLinks.com – Like Bit.Ly, but with an expiration date … and more! Check it out and let me know if you can think of some legitimate and friendly uses
Podcast only song of the week is the very apropos “I’m Good, I’m Gone” by Lykke Li!
Ep. 276 – Mars Keeps Getting Curiouser and Curiouser
Aug 16th
TOPIC: Between that news, discussion on Best Buy, security issues, database protocol and our usual nonsense you could almost forget that we’ve been gone for nearly a month! Jay Garmon helps get us back up to date however, and even whips out another fantastic geek trivia question for us:
How many TRS-80′s were originally produced, and why was the number that small?
We have a themed “cool sites” this week, with a focus on apps that can be used for exploring your creative bent on the iPad. All are free and all can be found easily in the app store:
- Draw: Not a lot of feature here, but it does a great job at being a real simple pick it up and start drawing tool. Includes some tic tac toe and dots games for the kids too!
- Drawing Box: Lots of features and functionality here, and is geared towards a younger set, with stamps and brushes that they will love to play with.
- SketchBookX: The best of the bunch if you are serious about drawing something on your ‘pad, this entry from Autodesk is a truly full featured drawing app with layers, color wheels, custom sizing of brushes and shapes, plus more!
Podcast only song of the week is the mellow “Misread” by the Kings of Convenience!
Ep. 274 – A Boson Walks Into a Bar …
Jul 6th
TOPIC: From spy drone hacking to automated speed capture devices in Chicago, and a quick takedown of RIM (again) it winds up taking Jay Garmon to save us from ourselves this TechTalk! After picking his brain on the upcoming Higgs Boson revelation, we even get some great Geek Trivia from him!
How did the fictional character of Spiderman help end an example of real life comic-book censorship?
- BoingBoing Getting Higgy Wit’ It - Some of the best Higgs-Boson jokes from around the net!
- Doodle – Another great pick for scheduling folk with no muss, no fuss!
- RendezNew – Find a place to meet in the middle, every time!
Podcast only song of the week is “I Don’t Know” by Jill Scott.
Ep. 271 – iolo Technologies’ Kraig Lane!
Jun 12th
TOPIC: In case you had any doubts, this week proves once again that your passwords and online accounts are anything but secure! Mike gives you some REAL advice on how to protect yourself (when you can anyways) …
To sweeten the pot we bring in awesome returning guest Kraig Lane from iolo Technologies, who talks to us about speeding that computer up, some of the myths and reality of Internet and PC slowdowns (and the software that purports to fix them), what’s in store with Windows 8 and mobile OS … plus some great info on System Mechanic and the newest versions available!
We get in a handful of great coolsites of week too:
- ManualsLib – A great collection of manuals for stuff you have around the house … never be lost without instructions again!
- GasBuddy – Find the cheapest gas around you!
- DuckDuckGo – Alternative, more secure and less intrusive search engine.
The podcast only song of the week is “Youth Without Youth” by Metric.
Ep. 265 – Trade up that iPad 2 with NextWorth!
Apr 8th
TOPIC: Dave and Mike get to talk to Jeff Trachsel of NextWorth this week, and discuss how NextWorth can help you trade up (or at least get rid of) all that tech junk you’ve been collecting!
We also talk about Macintosh’s malicious malware that has descended on fully 600,000 of you supercilious, overconfident apple fanboys! (And yes, Mike does take a load of special joy out of this occurrence). Between that and Google glasses discussions we wind up missing out on Jay Garmon but he does send along a trivia question to keep us thinking for a week or two:
What is the first recognized software Easter egg — one that’s 45 years old?
We also get some great coolsites of the week in:
- DailyDislike – Exactly what it sounds like … tell people what you hate today!
- White Pages Neighborhoods – See who lives next to you! Phone numbers, addresses, and kids names … a little creepy perhaps but ultrauseful!
- Search EBooks – Great place to find downloadable copyright free e-Books and documents!
- HypeMachine – Great place (and app) to find new music!
The podcast only song of the week is “Mister LittleJeans” by Runaway.
Ep. 263 – The War on Porn!
Mar 13th
TOPIC: Between your favorite porn site storing all passwords and credit card numbers in clear text and PayPal trying to take a bite out of e-book porn, it’s been a rough week for those in the rough trade … not only that but our favorite nemesis Anonymous becomes not quite so anonymous anymore (and with a Chicago connection to boot!).
Jay Garmon attempts to pull us out of the sludge with a great conversation on the relative merits of tablets, and gives us this fantastic trivia question:
Who got lucky (and wealthy) because the US Air Force recovered a hydrogen bomb on St. Patrick’s day – March 17 – 1966?
Dave kicks off our coolsites of the week this week with a great one, and Mike adds a few of his own:
- Unblock-US – Pass your IP through to pretend you’re linking in from another country (great for our repressed friends from those nasty countries with restrictive firewalls!) … note that this may have a fee associated depending on the usage.
- Universal Scale – Lets you dive down from Planck length all the way up to universe sized glimpses, in a beautifully put together and interactive flash app!
- Jelli Radio – A great alternative to the other major streaming radio stations, plus a direct hit into all the best SXSW performers! Both the web and the mobile versions give you social control of the music too … very cool stuff!
The podcast only song of the week is “Always Something” by Cage the Elephant.
Ep. 259 – Spacewars 50x Redux!
Feb 14th
TOPIC: That’s right, Mike attempts to outtrivia Jay “Geek Trivia” Garmon himself this week with an intro that’s all about the 50th anniversary of the world’s first video game! We spend a little time discussing Steve Jobs – the FBI files, but then of course, Jay has a great mindbender of his own in store:
What long awaited space disaster occurred two years ago, and which countries were involved?
We FINALLY get to some real coolsites of the week again:
- LMGTFY.com – Or “Let Me Google That For You” is a rather rude, but definitely hilarious way to let people know they should stop bugging you with dumb questions and let a computer handle it …
- Evernote Hello – If you’ve got an iPhone and Evernote, this visual contact app is for you! Almost makes Mike wish HE had an iPhone! (almost)
- Snooze for iPhone – Want some motivation to either stop or keep hitting snooze tomorrow? Try this “snooze for charity” app for your iPhone (when is mike gonna get an iPhone?)!
- Ms. Tiina Free Fonts – Because Mike loves fonts … and free. And he really loves fonts. Really.
The podcast only song of the week is “Hit ‘em Up Style” by Carolina Chocolate Drops (again).
Ep. 254 – The year in review (and other random stuff)
Jan 4th
TOPIC: Happy new years, listeners! Can you believe we’ve finished another trip around the sun so quickly? And that so much happened this last 12-months? We have a great and quite random discussion about this, talking about top stories of 2012 and spending altogether too much time discussing the loss of Steve Jobs.
Jay EncycloGarmonica does us the service of answering the previous question and provides a new and quite current “ripped from the headlines” trivia question for you:
Why is the US Government looking to rule whether the X-Men should be considered human beings or not?
No coolsites this week – but check our Facebook page http://facebook.com/techtalkwrlr for some “Best Of”‘s for 2011!
Podcast only song, after the break, is “Help, I’m Alive!” by Metric.
Ep. 250 – McAfee’s 12 Scams of XMas!
Nov 15th
TOPIC: Today we’re joined by Robert Siciliano from McAfee, who provides a great rundown on what you should be worried about going online this holiday season! We cover the gamut from android malware and driveby infections, to wrong transaction email phishing, scareware, and why you may not be as safe with that Mac as you think!
With Jay Garmon and Dave notably absent, Mike takes the opportunity (as usual) to rant. This week, Mike gets freaky about SOPA, and waxes on about what’s required for tablets to really take off in the marketplace.
Somehow, things stay on-track and on-time enough that we get some really great coolsites of the week too!
- McAfee AllAccess – Robert mentions McAfee’s awesome, comprehensive security package on-air in our interview, and it’s definitely worth checking out!
- idTheftSecurity – Robert’s personal website, with tons of great information, software links, video and more. If you ended the show wanting more Robert, this is the place to go!
- 2Houses – Great site for coordinating and communicating for separated parents managing children.
- PDFGeni – Search engine specifically designed to help you research and find complete – and free – pdf books online!
Podcast only song of the week is the jumping and fun “I’m Sexy and I Know It” by LMFAO!
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