In This Episode: Should you follow Computerworld’s advice and “Make sure Windows Auto Update is turned off”? (No!) Patreon’s mighty back-pedaling: is it enough damage control, and what will non-techie creators do now? The new iMac Pro: a “$13,000+ computer”? Does Bitcoin actually use as much power as all of Denmark, or is something fishy about this? And: Did Facebook really “admit” that using Facebook is “bad for you”? (Not exactly….) Note we’re breaking for the holidays: back in early January!
Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:04:42 — 29.7MB)
This Week’s Hosts
- Randy Cassingham, founder of This is True and the Internet Spam Primer.
- Leo Notenboom, “Chief Question Answerer” at tech education site Ask Leo!
- Gary Rosenzweig, host and producer of MacMost, and mobile game developer at Clever Media.
- Ken Gagne, host of the Polygamer and Transporter Lock podcasts.
- Longer Bios on the Hosts page.
Show Notes
- Leo: The Hacker News’ warning about a critical Windows update to the Microsoft Malware Protection Engine, and shockingly, Computerworld thinks it’s time to turn off Windows Update?!?
- Randy: Patreon walks back their recently announced changes, which resulted in Patrons leaving the site in droves. Here’s their textbook-perfect apology and plans for now. Randy and Leo both made a “roll-your-own” alternative for their readers who felt burned by Patreon (Randy’s | Leo’s).
- Gary briefs us about the new iMac Pro …and the promises of things to come from Apple.
- Ken wonders: is Bitcoin ruining the environment? Grist thinks so, but IEEE Spectrum puts a little less scare into it, even though they agree it’s an awful lot of energy (but there are solutions).
- Randy explores whether Facebook really said using Facebook can be bad for you. CNBC uses a says Facebook “admitted” it, but the whole thing was really started by ex-Facebook exec Chamath Palihapitiya, who was talking about all social media, not just Facebook. (Youtube, CBS News, Facebook’s News Room, The Verge). We’d love to know what you think in the comments!
- Ken’s Juiced.GS is the longest-running last remaining print publication dedicated to the Apple II computer.
Randy, forgot to post the link to the commerce subscription service and Juiced magazine. Really enjoyed the episode.
I was waiting for Ken to get me the info. It’s there now! 🙂
Re turning off Windows updates: Unfortunately, it’s the same mentality as the anti-vaccine crowd. “OMG, somebody on the Internet said that this ‘fix’ caused problems so it *must* be a conspiracy or evil plot to harm us all!” Idiots.
Being a long-time Unix/Linux user, I’ve never been a big fan of Windows. Be that as it may, the point is that it’s rather stupid to blindly ignore OS updates or software patches on any platform. If the “fix” (or vaccine) is intended to solve or prevent known problems, it’s likely a good thing even if it does end up not working out as planned or causes other issues for .01% of those who accept it. Yes, there is always a risk of unintended consequences, but it is wise to make an INFORMED decision about such matters. That’s called thinking, which seems to be a dwindling commodity for a large portion of the population these days.
An insightful point. And as a guy who spends his career encouraging people to think, I’m certainly with you on your last point!
So, I finally find something I like on the interwebs, and now you’re breaking for two weeks?!!
lol
Enjoy your time and families, outings, etc.
I presume you’ve at least caught up with all of the episodes! Glad you’re enjoying it, and back soon!
Unfortunately I don’t use ITunes but I will certainly give you an upvote. I have listened to all 5 podcasts and I will wait for the next one. You have won a place in my bookmarks bar. I like that though you may have things to say I don’t have to deal with one person talking over the other. CIVIL DISCOURSE yea! I also like taking a tech subject and broadening the discussion to life in general. Keep it up.
Glad you noticed, Judy! We’re having fun, too, which helps make it interesting, I think. We’ll talk to you soon!