Diginauts 0014 — Trump Team Botching Tech Security, Human-Pig Chimerae, Facial Recognition Catching Criminals

  • segment 1, Top of Mind — Terrible Trump Tech (0:00): January in the Trump administration has featured failure to 2-factor authenticate, vulnerable phones, tweeted passwords, and worse.
  • segment 2, Juris Prudent — Facial Recognition Fighting Crime (12:11):  Are you comfortable with the FBI using computers to check your photo in their database when they suspect someone of a crime?
  • segment 3, Future File — Meme Marketplace (24:39): A subreddit allowing you to “buy” memes.
  • segment 4,  Let’s Dig Some More (31:43):  Splicing embryos to grow human organs, computerized telepathy, and the climate change rundown.

Tweet us @efader or @digitalderon or give us a call and leave a voice message at 323.686.8255.

Diginauts 0013 — Babies from Three Parents, Finland’s Experiment in Basic Income, Coolest Stuff from CES

  • segment 1, Top of Mind — Healthy Babies from Three Parents (0:00): Doctors have succeeded in allowing a woman with fatal genetic defects to successfully have a baby.  Detractors fear the science isn’t yet sound.
  • segment 2, Let’s Hash It Out — CES  (12:02):  Tech companies headed to Las Vegas to show off this year’s trends in gadgets and all things digital.  Deron & Eric discuss the standout products.
  • segment 3, Juris Prudent — Libel and the Invention of Email  (31:04): Self-proclaimed inventor of EMAIL files defamation lawsuit against TechDirt’s Mike Masnick.
  • segment 4,  Let’s Dig Some More (41:32): We look at Google’s stealth advancement in artificial intelligence, a Japanese company’s decision to replace white collar workers with AI, and Finland’s move to experiment in fundamental basic income.
  • segment 5, Semantically Incorrect: ‘Ping’ and ‘Talk’ (1:11:23): Deron thinks we need a new word for talking to someone without talking to someone.

Tweet us @efader or @digitalderon or give us a call and leave a voice message at 323.686.8255.

Diginauts 0012 — Amazon’s Many Plans To Replace Humans, Politics & Your Brain, Are We Evolving into a New Species?

  • segment 1, Top of Mind — Challenging Your Brain’s Political Believes (0:00): A study shows MRI images of people who’s deepest political beliefs are challenged, and it matches primitive reactions to life-threatening situations.
  • segment 2, Future File —  Human-Computer Hybrids (12:37):  The Singularity is looming.  We discuss what the future of humanity will look like, and whether humans will merge with computers to form what amounts to a new species.
  • segment 3, Juris Prudent — Search Warrants for Amazon Echo Data  (35:48): A murder case has caused law enforcement to seek recordings from a personal assistant device.  Do people have a right to privacy when it comes to always-listening technology?
  • segment 4,  Let’s Dig Some More (47:20): Your environmental update, then a look at the latest happenings in self-driving vehicles.  How will fewer car crashes impact organ donation?
  • segment 5, What’s Your Take — Warehouses in the Sky (1:09:46): Amazon filed for a patent to place blimps into high-altitude flight over cities, so that drones can deliver your products faster.

Tweet us @efader or @digitalderon or give us a call and leave a voice message at 323.686.8255.

Hollywood Inclusive 0009 — Kanye Meeting with Trump, Breakthroughs in Inclusiveness, and Does Liberal Hollywood Think Racism Is Solved?

guest Moira Griffin (@MoiraGriffinSenior Director of Diversity Initiatives at Sundance Institute.

  • segment 1, Post-election Race & Politics (0:00): We haven’t had a chance to chat since the election, so we chat a little about race and politics in our country today.
  • segment 2, Guest Interview (35:42): Moira tells us about her career in film production, festival curation, and now working at Sundance Institute to help us hear all the voices.
  • segment 3, Progress in Inclusiveness (59:37): We share three stories (hijab, OshKosh, Santa) about recent breakthroughs that will have us seeing some individuals who’ve been previously interrupted.

Join the conversation!  Ask us questions. Tell us where we’ve got it wrong.  We’re on  Twitter: @kirkwrites79 and @digitalderon.

Diginauts 0011 — Trump Summons Tech CEOs, Gamers as Drone Pilots, Opting Out of Body Scanners

Diginauts episode 0011
Diginauts episode 0011
  • segment 1, Top of Mind — Drumpf & Technology (0:00): Technology’s most powerful are gathering in New York to meet with Donald Drumpf.  What will they say?  And what the hell are they not telling us about Russian cyber interference in the election?
  • segment 2, Future File —  Fusion Stellerator (23:55):  German scientists have successfully tested the next level of their fusion device, and the results were unprecedentedly positive.
  • segment 3, Juris Prudent — Opting Out of Body Scanners   (35:33): A blogger shared his experience opting out of the “voluntary” airport scanners in Berlin.  FAKE NEWS ALERT!!! Deron mentions that a TSA operator was caught masturbating to images from a backscatter device.  He got fooled.  Snopes says that never happened.
  • segment 4,  Let’s Dig Some More (48:34): After a round-up of headlines on climate change, we discuss the possibility of the UK military recruiting computer gamers as weaponized drone operators.  We also listen to a Christmas song composed by an artificial intelligence that was shown a picture of a Christmas tree.
  • segment 5, What’s Your Take — Entrepreneurial Predisposition (1:03:55): We discuss whether entrepreneurship is in your DNA.

Tweet us @efader or @digitalderon or give us a call and leave a voice message at 323.686.8255.

Diginauts 0010 — Every Human Replaced by Robots, Reddit Admits Edits, United Kingdom Surveillance Law

Diginauts Episode 0010
Diginauts Episode 0010

Give us a call and leave a voice message at 323.686.8255, or tweet @efader or @digitalderon.

Diginauts 0009 — VR to Prevent Insanity after Head Transplant, Privacy with Snap Spectacles and Spying Earbuds, Updates on YOUTHvGOV

Diginauts episode 0009
Diginauts episode 0009

Give us a call and leave a voice message at 323.686.8255, or tweet @efader or @digitalderon.

Diginauts 0008 — Facebook Echo Chamber and the 2016 Election, Human-Transmitted Passwords, Teens Sue U.S. Government

Diginauts episode 0008
Diginauts episode 0008

Tweet @DigitalDeron or @efader with your opinions, or give us a call and leave a voice message at 323.686.8255.

Diginauts 0007 — Election Results, Mining Asteroids for Minerals, Robots Programmed to Kill

Diginauts -- episode 0007
Diginauts -- episode 0007
  • segment 1, Top of Mind — Election Results (0:00): Rightly or wrongly, we tried to record this episode as the results were coming in on election night.  Drumpf defeats Clinton.  We let our politics show a little.  (Oh, and here’s that Michael Moore article about Trump never wanting to be president in the first place.)
  • segment 2, Let’s Review (31:21):  New updates on our previous topics include a government effort to design drones that can take out insurgent fighters and and Atlantic reporter attempted to find out how long a device can sit at a random IP address before hacking attempts try to co-opt it for DDoS purposes.
  • segment 3, Future File — Mining the Asteroids (50:01): A U.S. company has received grants from the Government of Luxembourg to find mineral wealth in the asteroid belt, bringing commerce to space.

Tweet @DigitalDeron or @efader with your opinions, or give us a call and leave a voice message at 323.686.8255.

Hollywood Inclusive 0008 — Dr. Strange Director Answers ‘Whitewashing’ Criticism, Lil Wayne, Hollywood’s Paper Consumption

Episode 0008 -- Hollywood Inclusive
Episode 0008 -- Hollywood Inclusive

guest DMA (@PlanetDMA)

  • segment 1, Story of the Week — Dr. Strange (0:00): Marvel’s Kevin Feige states a new commitment to diversity in comic book movies.  Dr. Strange director Scott Derickson gave an interview to Daily Beast about how he was TRYING to be sensitive to the audience in portrayal of Asian characters, but in doing so made a choice to delete an opportunity for an Asian actor.  DMA questions #WhoWasInTheRoom when approving that decision.
  • segment 2, Guest Interview (23:47): DMA tells us how she shifted from her studies in politics and how it led her into the entertainment industry, then into software, and from there back into entertainment.
  • segment 3, State of the Industry — Casting on Network TV (47:14): An appraisal from USA Today gives grades on cast diversity to each of the major networks, and concludes that money still drives decisions.  Plus, Variety published a piece this week discussing how casting directors now feel pressure to represent today’s America.
  • segment 4, What Pissed You Off? — Celebrities & Politics (1:05:55): Lil Wayne and Susan Sarandon shot their mouths off this week.  Should anyone care?
  • segment 5, Hurray for Hollywood — iPad Script Tracking (1:15:46): A writers assistant has come up with script draft management software that will save tons of paper in the television production process.

Join the conversation!  Ask us questions. Tell us where we’ve got it wrong.  We’re on  Twitter: @kirkwrites79 and @digitalderon.