The Hacker Shuffle

The Hacker Shuffle

Author: J.D. Biersdorfer and Pedro Rafael Rosado October 31, 2025 Duration: 31:44

On this episode of Pop Tech Jam, El Kaiser and J.D.  discuss — among many other things — electronic playing-card shufflers, Oreos, A.I. slop, robot hands and “Peacemaker.” Listen in on PTJ 387!

• How Hacked Card Shufflers Allegedly Enabled a Mob-Fueled Poker Scam That Rocked the NBA (Wired)

• Real Estate Is Entering Its AI Slop Era (Wired)

• Phony AI-Created Receipts Become Real Problem for Businesses (PYMTS.com)

• OpenAI reportedly developing new generative music tool (Tech Crunch)

• Oreo-maker Mondelez to use new generative AI tool to slash marketing costs (Reuters)

• The ‘Hands Problem’ Holding Back the Humanoid Revolution (The Wall Street Journal)

• Robot umpires approved for MLB in 2026 as part of challenge system (CNN)

• Trump and Xi will ‘consummate’ TikTok deal on Thursday, treasury secretary says (TechCrunch)

• TikTok may not be Chinese-owned anymore, but there still is a privacy problem (Brookings)

• Exclusive: US Department of Energy forms $1 billion supercomputer and AI partnership with AMD (Reuters)

• Apple Newsroom announcements

• Apple Readies Its First Ever Touch-Screen MacBook (Bloomberg)

• What’s Next for iPad Pro? A Vapor Chamber Like the One on the iPhone 17 Pro (Bloomberg)

• Ads likely coming to Apple Maps in 2026 (Apple Insider)

• New MacBook Pro Nears Mass Production, But Four Bigger Upgrades Expected Next Year (MacRumors)

• Apple Shelves Vision Headset Revamp to Prioritize Meta-Like AI Glasses (Bloomberg)

• Google’s “G” gets a brighter look. (Google blog)

• Podcasts and News Fact Sheet (Pew Research Center)


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
PTJ 228: A.I., Ay Yi Yi [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:32
It’s not been a great week for the algorithms: Elon Musk downloaded a few concerned thoughts on the state of artificial intelligence to Vanity Fair, the F.B.I.’s facial recognition database has some glitches and Amazon’s…
PTJ 227: Special Delivery [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:31
It seems like everybody’s got something on the way this week: Samsung’s new phone waits in the wings, Amazon’s Alexa is calling in for a six pack, robots are rolling out with restaurant orders and Apple even quietly slip…
PTJ 226: The Sound of Hacking [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:38
The Pi Day Northeast Blizzard of 2017 may have blown through, but El Kaiser is still powering through a nasty winter cold to get to this week’s tech and science news with J.D. — which features quite a bit of hacker activ…
PTJ 225: Shazam!! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:38
The hills are alive with the sound of buzzing drones, leaking data and the thwack of fake news getting smacked down. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss it all, as well as Shazam’s jump into augmented reality, smaller Windows 10…
PTJ 224: Uncloudy Skies [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:53
Mobile World Congress brought in the new and the old this week, Twitter and Facebook are stepping it up to help users in need and Amazon Web Services had a sad day this week. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss it all — and YouTu…
PTJ 223: Ahead, Warp Factor Four! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:43
Things down here on Earth may be business as usual — mergers, lawsuits, taxes, paradigm shifts, feature updates and so on — but exciting things are happening Up Above as well as Out There. SpaceX had another successful r…
PTJ 222: Noises Off [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:51
On this week’s episode, Don Donofrio returns to discuss possible paths ahead for of Apple this year as the company comes off a record-breaking quarterly profit and a surging stock price. El Kaiser and J.D. have some thin…
PTJ 221: Watching and Waiting [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:17
On this week’s episode, El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the collision of the technology industry with the government, smart television sets that watch you, the ongoing battle with fake news and the demise of the message board…
PTJ 220: Lost Worlds [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:54
Politics body-slammed the tech world this week, cyber-criminals have figured out yet another way to rip off unsuspecting victims and an enterprising young archaeologist has come up with a way to let volunteers help look…