Boops, Toots and Squeals

Boops, Toots and Squeals

Author: J.D. Biersdorfer and Pedro Rafael Rosado August 13, 2025 Duration: 27:46
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)

Tune into POP | TECH | JAM for a weekly conversation that feels like grabbing a coffee with friends who are just as obsessed with the latest streaming series as they are with the inner workings of a new gadget. Hosts J.D. Biersdorfer and Pedro Rafael Rosado steer this independent audio magazine, blending sharp commentary on movies and television with insightful, accessible discussions about the technology shaping how we experience all that culture. Each episode is a deliberate mash-up, finding the unexpected connections between a trending app and a classic film, or how a breakthrough in tech might influence the next must-watch show. You'll hear thoughtful reviews, dig into news that matters across these intertwined worlds, and get a sense of the genuine curiosity and rapport the hosts bring to every topic. This podcast thrives on that energetic mix, creating a space that’s both informative and engaging without ever taking itself too seriously. It’s less a formal broadcast and more of a dynamic, ongoing jam session-hence the name-where pop culture and digital life collide in entertaining and thought-provoking ways.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 170

POP | TECH | JAM
Podcast Episodes
Tangled Up in Blue [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:51
J.D. and El Kaiser ponder: Just how sturdy is the world's technological infrastructure these days?
Retro Fever [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:05
El Kaiser and J.D. take a walk down a repaved Memory Lane discussing the growing public interest in old 20th-century analog treasures like film cameras, vinyl records — and "X-Men" cartoons.
AI Heats Up [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:56
There's no slowing the wave of AI-enhanced products hurtling into the world, so this week's episode ponders just a few of them.
BADGE IN [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:13
El Kaiser shares his love for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. and J.D. keeps the Trek vibe going with a short news roundup that includes a report on a wearable AI pin that brings to mind a Next Generation communicator bad…
THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF ROBO-WEEBLE [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:16
El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the New York Police Department's new security robot on patrol in Times Square, as well as new artificial voice technology, iOS 17, sassy chatbots, the end of the Netflix DVDs and much more.
Nothin' But Bluesky Do I See [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:13
El Kaiser and J.D. discuss life after the Bird-Themed Microblogging-Service-Turned-24th-Letter-Of-The-Alphabet platform, as well as reviews of the new biography of said platform’s owner.
Ride of the Valkyries [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:38
El Kaiser dives into Season 1 of Only Murders in the Building and J.D. reads up on the latest in drones 'n' cloud headlines.
SPACE WARS AND MOON BASES [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:03
Movie ticket prices are sky high and streaming services keep increasing their monthly fees but more importantly, what's with all this renewed global interest in the Moon?
Think Pink [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:04
El Kaiser shares his love of My Hero Academia and open-backed headphones for audio-mixing and J.D. goes to the movies ⎯ for the first time since 2019.
"Quadio! Hie thee hither to Threads!" [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:09
On this episode; the potential impact of the current writers' and actors' strikes on the entertainment industry, the emergence of Threads as a challenge to Twitter and the modern-era revival of Quadrophonic surround soun…