The Ars Technicast

In this episode of the Ars Technicast we talk about the fine art of the scam. Recently, Deputy Editor Nate Anderson and Ars Senior Writer Jon Brodkin wrote about the ways in which Internet scammers have taken to use the telephone to solicit users to allow them access to their PCs. Nate played the role of victim to one of these scams and wrote what happened. And then there’s the phenomenon of users trolling the scammers back, which is both hilarious and fascinating. Deputy editor Nate Anderson joins Senior Apple Editor Jacqui Cheng and Social Editor Cesar Torres to talk about how these scams work, what might motivate both the scammers and trolls, and ideas about how sophisticated scams may become as video calls become more popular.

Have you been suckered by a scam before? Maybe you know someone who did. Share your stories about Internet scams with us in the comments. 

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Muua-ha-ha-ha!

What makes for an amazing and iconic video game villain? Is it looks, evil laughter, or a singularly creepy name? Following the success of our previous podcast episode, “Our most memorable video game characters,” we are dedicating this show to the best video game villains of all time. Ars Technica Gaming Editor Kyle Orland joins host Social Editor Cesar Torres, Ars Contributor Casey Johnston, and Senior Reviews Editor Lee Hutchinson to discuss our favorite villains. We also reveal the top ten villains submitted by Ars readers (in an informal social media poll). You’ll never guess who makes it to number one.

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Video game characters have been with us for decades, and many have evolved into household names. That list of characters includes Pac-Man, Mario, Samus, Sonic the Heddgehog, and many more. But what does is take to create a memorable character? In the days before graphics chips could support photorealism and sophisticated animation, how did game designers breathe life into a handful of pixels? Ars Technica Gaming Editor Kyle Orland joins host Social Editor Cesar Torres and Ars Contributor Casey Johnston on this game-themed episode of the Ars Technicast. We go back to the days of a single square acting as a character in the first Atari games, as well as classics from the 1990s, including characters from games like Metroid Prime, Final Fantasy VII and Pokemon. We also discuss how some characters disappointed us when the technology finally allowed them to speak in a game. This show has so many characters bursting at its seams, that we are already working on a future episode of the Ars Technicast dedicated just to video game villains. 

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Though not all of us Ars Technica editors were introduced to the Internet at the same time, there’s no doubt that it has an effect on our social interactions everyday. In fact, some our social interaction is dependent on having at least a portion of our communications with people online. But what is more important: interacting in the online world, or in “meatspace”? For some of us, the Internet seems to fortify and help build existing relationships in the physical world. For others, the real interactions between people seem to be the most important. The Internet has changed the way we attend social gatherings, the way we date, and even the way we get along with family members, co-workers and friends. In this episode of the Ars Technicast, Senior Apple Editor Jacqui Cheng is joined by Social Editor Cesar Torres, and Ars Contributor Casey Johnston and Microsoft Editor Peter Bright.

What are the ways in which the Internet shapes your own social behavior? Is one type of space more important than the other? Share your stories with us in the comments. 

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The enticing promise of cloud computing is one plays on our human desire for convenience. Your data, which can include photos, music, health records –– in essence, your digital life ––  is hosted in the cloud, synced to all your devices, backed up in case things fail in your physical backups. This kind of computing would make the George Jetson scream with envy. But what happens when hackers can take away your digital life in the blink of an eye? This is what happened to Mat Honan, Senior Writer at Wired, when a hacker infiltrated his life, stole and deleted his data. This hack required a few steps in succession that exploited authentication methods used in popular services like Amazon, Google, Twitter and Apple’s iCloud service. Mat wrote about this act of vandalism against him, and he is still dealing with the effects of losing his information. 

Mat Honan visits the Ars Technicast in this episode to talk in detail about the fallout after the theft and wiping (yes, they wiped his devices), and what should do to protect their data. We talk about Google’s 2-step verification as a method that can help protect users against hacks, but how in the end, there are some inherent risks in the cloud services we use today. Senior Apple Editor Jacqui Cheng is joined by Social Editor Cesar Torres, and Ars Contributor Casey Johnston in this conversation with Mat.

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A desk is more than just a place to sit and work. For many of us, it’s a whole way of life. On this episode of the Ars Technicast, we share details about our own desk setups. We discuss ergonomics, elevatable desks, minimalism and even DIY tricks like a laptop hammock. Our workflows inform how we each set up our desks, and we’ll chat about how you can get the most productivity out of your own workspace. We share pictures of each of our offices, and you’ll even see some of our pets make a cameo or two. You can also  hear Peter become the human trackball as he imitates the sound of Senior Apple Editor Jacqui Cheng is joined by Open Source Editor Ryan Paul, Microsoft Editor Peter Bright, Social Editor Cesar Torres, and Ars Contributor Casey Johnston. What is your own desk setup like? Share your own tales of ergonomic and productivity with us in the comments. 

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In this week’s episode we get up close and personal with music. Ryan and Jacqui trade stories about using digital upright pianos and evaluate the quality of their sound. We also discuss iPad apps used for music making and performance. Not all of us compose or play music as trained musicians, though. We also discuss our favorite ways of listening to music, finding recommendations online, and the fine art of playlist making. As a counterpoint, Ryan reminds us how satisfying it can be to listen to an album in its entirety. Senior Apple Editor Jacqui Cheng is joined by Open Source Editor Ryan Paul, Social Editor Cesar Torres, and Ars Contributor Casey Johnston. This time around, we’re also including links to a Spotify playlist that features music and artists we mentioned on the show. What hardware and software do you use to meet your music needs? Maybe you have other music to recommend to us. Share your favorites with us in the comments.

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This week we’re dedicating our show to retro gaming. As we discussed the games of our youth, we discovered that we’re still in love with many of those early games. Gaming editor Kyle Orland joins Senior Apple Editor Jacqui Cheng, Open Source Editor Ryan Paul, Social Editor Cesar Torres, and Ars Contributor Casey Johnston.

We reminisce about consoles we owned and played in our homes (Jacqui was only allowed to have one console at a time), what games we played at the arcades, and what systems we took to our dorm rooms in college. Are any Ars Technica staffers still playing these retro games today? Some of the classic games we dissect include Ocarina of Time, Castlevania, Pokemon, the Final Fantasy series, and more. We’ll also learn how Kyle’s experience in computer science led to his interest in writing about video games. Listen to find out.

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This week we devote the show to science fiction, and in particular Ridley Scott’s new film Prometheus. Warning: This show is extremely spoiler heavy, so if you don’t want to know details about the film, wait until you see it first, since we give away major plot points. 

Ridley’ Scott’s loose prequel to his 1979 film Alien provides fertile ground to discuss the fiction and storytelling used in the film, but the movie has very little science that can be compared to science in the real world. We also discuss how the scientists aboard the Prometheus don’t behave like actual scientists. No discussion of this series of films is complete without talking about the monsters. Does the creature design of Prometheus work with previous films in the Alien series? Tune in to find out. Host Senior Apple Editor Jacqui Cheng is joined by Open Source Editor Ryan Paul, Social Editor Cesar Torres and Ars Contributor Casey Johnston.

Links

Science gets burned by Prometheus

Adrian Bott, Prometheus Unbound: What The Movie Was Actually About

H.R. Giger

Alien Trilogy 

Alien Resurrection

Alien vs. Predator

2001: A Space Odyssey

Wikipedia entry on the alien creature (xenomorph)

Books 

Good Omens

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

Kindred

Sandman

Stranger in a Strange Land

Starship Troopers

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This week we are dedicating our show to summer travel and gadgets. What kind of gadgets do you bring when you travel for work, and which ones do you bring when you're on vacation? Host and Senior Apple Editor Jacqui Cheng is joined in this epsiode by Open Source Editor Ryan Paul, Ars Contributor Casey Johnston, and Social Editor Cesar Torres. 

You can listen to the Ars Technicast in a variety of ways. You can use the player embedded right into this post, download the file to your computer (we have also reduced the file size in this third time around), or you can subscribe via iTunes or RSS. We have recently also added the latest two episodes to Soundcloud. If there are topics you'd like us to cover in future episodes, leave us a comment, or if you simply have something to say about the show you can also leave us an iTunes store review, if you use iTunes to listen to podcasts.

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