A growing concern is sprouting in the technology industry as many hiring managers are finding a talent gap between what’s needed and what applicants can provide. National Geographic has produced an excellent DocuSeries - Valley of the Boom - revisiting the history of Netscape and web browsing. Many federal government websites are set to have their security status expires as the shutdown lingers on in the United States. Trusting cloud storage is a risk and when Google Drive folders cannot be located, the anxiety can quickly set in.

We consider the dark side of high paying tech jobs in the booming and competitive real estate market of San Francisco. IMDb has announced the launching of Freedive, an ad-supported movie service feature older offerings that is lacking in the market. Microsoft’s support of Windows 7 is phasing out in one year, but there is work to be done with 600 million units running the legacy operating system. And finally, several FCC and FTC sites are non-operational due to the domestic government shutdown. The lack of services are leaving consumers vulnerable and unable to report identity theft and robocalling scams.

We quickly dive into a few stories we missed on the year in review episode and also share our holiday tech recap. A report showed that 164 companies made their first $1 million via in-app purchases and recurring membership fees, proving that app development is changing the economy and business landscape. Apple has agreed to provide iTunes movies and their original content on specific smart televisions, which demonstrates a shift in Apple’s hardware only model. We recap some interesting Consumer Electronics Show gadgets and share some recent shipping issues that are causing headaches for online shoppers.

The tech industry brought about a number of changes in 2018, specifically in the entertainment, mobile, cloud computing, and smart home corners of the technology sector. The year brought about a new level of hacking and data breaching, along with plenty of space travel and augmented reality to go around. And of course, what is a recap of last year if we didn’t throw out some predictions for 2019. Next year may serve as a launching pad for a few specific industries, but technology will fall short in some areas as well.

Google is in the news as the shutdown of Google+ speeds up after another breach exposes users’ data. Sundar Pichai, Google CEO, is heading to Capitol Hill to testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee where user privacy, anti-conservative bias, and more is on the agenda. In a shocking, or maybe not too shocking, report the New York Times reported an incredible piece on how enabled location services tracked an individual throughout the city to freakish detail. Locally, over 200 e-scooters hit the streets of Bakersfield overnight without the approval or consultation of city officials.

Over the past 30 years, consumers and businesses have forgotten about a number of tech products ranging from portable music and video technology to mobile tech and connectivity means. Google is having its day in front of the United States Congress as it heads to Washington D.C. to answer questions from congressional leaders. In another major cyber attack, Marriott announces an incident in where 500 million customers’ information was stolen. And in bizarre news, dial up internet still services nearly 9 million people in rural and remote areas.

We learned this week that Amazon now has a deal with Apple to sell most of the Apple products on the online retailer’s marketplace. Absent from that is the HomePod and for good reason. InSight landed on Mars this week as it is set to explore and teach us more about what’s going on beneath the surface of the red planet. In more Apple news, the Silicon Valley giant is battling with iPhone users over the 30% commission earned from app store purchases and app developers. Lastly, we share a few stories related to customer service, cancelling accounts, and strange mapping directions.

We are joined with a good friend of the show and gadget guru Rick Limpert to talk about Black Friday deals, holiday hacks, and hot holiday items with special. We talk about a wide range of items for the holidays from online Christmas card ordering, noise cancelling headphones, DSLR cameras, vintage video games, and portable gym bags. And what about some holiday hacks such as finding places that price match, doing your homework online prior to shopping, using apps to find the best deals around, and finding out what benefits credit card companies offer for shoppers.

We learned this week that the person named after Nintendo's famous Super Mario franchise, Mario Segale, has died at 84. Apple reported to investors last week that the hardware giant would no longer be reporting on unit sales for their line of products, raising many concerns and questions along the way. When it comes to daylight savings, let’s not just focus on the housework. Let’s add some items to our tech to do list such as updating systems, security, and passwords and backing up our data. Lastly, bitcoin turns 10 this week and changed the manner in which many envision financial transactions in the future.

In California, the senator that authored the gold standard of net neutrality laws has delayed the implementation of that law after agreeing with the FCC to wait for judicial review. In random news, CompUSA is back online after 11 years as the site is now a bargain affiliate based site for discounts products and tech gadgets. Google is now handing over some more privacy controls to users with the ability to clear their entire search history from their servers. Finally, IBM is set to acquire Red Hat by end of 2019 in an attempt to compete in the cloud services industry and provide more offerings to their clients.