Tech Break (Video)

Jason Howell and Megan Morrone celebrate the first day of Black History Month with a discussion of @blackbirds, a new Twitter bot you can follow or chat with about black Americans of the past and present. Black employees at Twitter developed and manage the bot. Writing in TechCrunch, Megan Rose Dickey says you'll be able to interact with the bot through DM in short replies.

Full episode can be seen at twit.tv/tnt/1696

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Megan Morrone and Jason Howell talk to Kurt Wagner from Recode about today's Facebook news. First, Facebook reported its earnings today and it appears they're killing it. Also, back in 2012 Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would be focusing on mobile. We talk about how that's been going in the past 5 years. In other news, Facebook has been in court fighting a lawsuit on behalf of Oculus, who was charged with stealing technology from gaming company Zenimax before Oculus was acquired by Facebook. The jury is in. And we discuss Sheryl Sandberg's response to the political turmoil in DC.

Full episode can be seen at twit.tv/tnt/1696

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An Austrian hotel was hit by ransomware that locked guests out of their hotel rooms. (Not IN their hotel rooms, as reported by others.)

For the full episode, visit twit.tv/sn/597.

Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte

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Starting on February 13th, 2017, Gmail will start blocking .js file attachments. This adds .js to a long list of file extensions, including .exe, .bat, and .sys blocked by Gmail for security reasons. Users with legitimate reasons to send .js files will still be able to use Google Drive to transfer the files.

For the full episode, visit twit.tv/sn/597.

Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte

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Special Guest Rich Woods from NeoWin joins Leo, Paul, and Mary Jo to address rumors of an upcoming "Windows 10 in the Cloud." Is this related to Windows on ARM? A new version of Windows RT? A response to Google's Chromebooks?

Full episode available at twit.tv/ww/503

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Leo, Phil Libin, Owen J.J. Stone, and Michael Nunez discuss Trump's enactment of an immigration ban on 7 countries and tech business' reaction to it. Phil has some advice on the importance of staying rational in the face of adversity.

For the full episode, visit twit.tv/twit/599.

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Owen JJ Stone, Phil Libin, and Michael Nuñez

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Megan Morrone, Jason Howell and Becky Worley discuss Starbucks new voice activated barista. TechCrunch says Starbucks is creating its own virtual assistant. Which is pretty amazing when you think about all the crazy complicated orders people place at Starbucks. You can adjust your drink like you're speaking to a barista and they will always know how to spell your name. Starbucks will also let you re-order drinks with your Amazon home voice assistant. So, now you really never have to talk to anyone you don't want to talk to. Are we ready for coffee robots?

For the full episode, visit twit.tv/tnt/1694.

Hosts: Jason Howell, Megan Morrone, and Becky Worley

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When the civilized world comes to its inevitable end in the coming months, which tech billionaire's island will you move to? Elon Musk's getaway will have solar power and lots of tunnels, but might be on Mars. Bill Gates' island will have the best education and disease control, but you will have to use Internet Explorer. How will you choose?

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Stacey Higginbotham, and Jeff Jarvis

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Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte check out a video of a robot arm checking the "I'm not a robot" captcha. Is this something we need to be worried about?

For the full episode, visit twit.tv/sn/597.

Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte

Bandwidth for TWiT Bits is provided by CacheFly.

Becky Worley, contributor to ABC News Good Morning America joins Megan Morrone and Jason Howell to offer tips on how to use social media during times of political turmoil, no matter what side of the aisle you are on.

Full episode available at twit.tv/tnt/1694

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