On this week’s episode, El Kaiser and J.D. wade into the river of recent news about artificial intelligence — while stopping to pour one out for the soon-to-be-discontinued AOL dial-up modem service. Hear it all (and more) with one click of the Play button for PTJ 384!

• Alexa Got an A.I. Brain Transplant. How Smart Is It Now? (The New York Times)

• OpenAI Brings Back Fan-Favorite GPT-4o After a Massive User Revolt (Gizmodo)

• GPT-5: Overdue, overhyped and underwhelming. And that’s not the worst of it. (Gary Marcus Substack)

• Apple App Intents Voice Control Feature for Siri, Apps; iOS 26 Release Timing (Bloomberg)

• Apple’s new Siri may allow users to operate apps just using voice (TechCrunch)

• Computer Science Grads Struggle to Find Jobs in the A.I. Age (The New York Times)

• Inside the Multimillion-Dollar Gray Market for Video Game Cheats (Wired)

• Reddit will block the Internet Archive (The Verge)

• End of an era: AOL to discontinue its dial-up internet service after 30 years (The Guardian)

While counting down the minutes to the new season of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” this week, El Kaiser and J.D. discuss recent developments in the tech world and reflect upon the opening-weekend box office for the latest Superman movie. Spin up PTJ 382 to listen in!

• Google confirms it's 'combining' Chrome OS and Android into a single platform (Android Authority)
• Is A.I. the Future of Web Browsing? (The New York Times)
• xAI and Grok apologize for ‘horrific behavior’ (TechCrunch)
• After Linda Yaccarino’s Departure As X CEO, Will Elon Musk Once Again Flip Off Advertisers In Favor Of AI? (Deadline)
• It’s YouTube vs. Netflix as the Streaming Wars Come Down to 2 (The New York Times)
• “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” (Paramount+)
• “Superman” opens to sky-high $217 million at global box office, becoming DC's biggest premiere since “The Batman” (Entertainment Weekly)
• ACASIS Mac Mini M4 Workstation 8-in-1 Dual SSD 40Gbps Dock
• Dell UltraSharp 32 4K Thunderbolt Hub Monitor - U3225QE
• Astropad Luna Display

On this week’s episode of Pop Tech Jam, El Kaiser and JD discuss Microsoft’s recent announcement regarding changes to “the unexpected restart experience, the stack of Substacks piling up and A.I.’s effect on plant life. Apple’s new “F1” movie with Brad Pitt, the upcoming “Superman” film and El Kaiser’s belated journey with “Andor” are also part of the discussion, so listen in here on PTJ 381!

PTJ 381 LINKS

Microsoft says goodbye to the Windows blue screen of death (CNBC)

There is no mystery over who wrote the Blue Screen of Death, despite what some may want you to believe(Microsoft Dev Blogs)

The Windows Resiliency Initiative: Building resilience for a future-ready enterprise (Windows Blogs)

Substack Is Having a Moment—Again. But Time Is Running Out (Wired)

AI is ruining houseplant communities online (The Verge)

Kuo: Apple to release cheaper MacBook powered by iPhone processor (9to5Mac)

‘F1’ Revs To $144M Opening Weekend Around The World, Brad Pitt & Apple Original Films Records; ‘M3GAN 2.0’ Powers Down At $10M+ (Deadline)

Early Reactions to “Superman” Claim It’s Complete Opposite of “Man of Steel” (Yahoo)

“Andor” (Disney+)

Apple’s annual World Wide Developers Conference brought its usual load of software announcements last week and El Kaiser and J.D. share some thoughts about it all — including the new Liquid Gas, er, Liquid Glass interface design. But it’s not ALL about Apple this episode, as Google and Nintendo had some announcements of their own. Spin up PTJ 380 for the commentary!

LINKS

· Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference 2025 announcements (Apple)

· Introducing Liquid Glass (Apple on YouTube)

· Apple introduces a delightful and elegant new software design (Apple)

· Liquid Glass isn’t a design failure; it is Apple’s most tactile digital future yet (UX Collective)

· Why Apple’s ‘Liquid Glass’ Design Is a Step Backward for UX (Prototypr)

· Apple's Liquid Glass is a grim portent for UX (The Product Picnic)

· Android 16 is here (Google Keyword blog)

· Separating Material 3 Expressive from Android 16 was Google's smartest move all year (Android Police)

· 7 Things We Love And 4 Things We Hate About The Switch 2 (Kotaku)

· Agatha All Along (Disney+)

· Andor (Disney+)

If it's September, it must be time for an Apple Event to announce new iPhones! El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the presentation and the new fall line-up of Apple gear, and take side trips into Amazon's new Batman show and El Kaiser's dilemma about saving a high-end display. And we pour one out for James Earl Jones, who made a twisted soul sound so darn good in that galaxy far, far away. All this right here on PTJ 379!

On this episode of Pop Tech Jam, El Kaiser and J.D. roll on up through the recent tech-world headlines — including a recent court ruling against Alphabet and continuing fallout from last month's global IT meltdown — and celebrate the joys of streaming video. All this and more on PTJ 378!

If a few lines of bad computer code from a cybersecurity company can cause an epic global IT meltdown/Blue Screen of Death festival across the Windows systems that run the airlines, healthcare, banking and other major industries, J.D. and El Kaiser ponder: Just how sturdy is the world's technological infrastructure these days? Along with a quick news roundup, El Kaiser also shares his thoughts on two popular streaming TV shows and J.D. has advice on decluttering your phone after years of photo cruft. Come fly with us on PTJ 377!