The Ars Technicast

In this episode Ars Tech Policy Editor Joe Mullin joins hosts Social Editor Cesar Torres and Ars Writer Casey Johnston to talk about Ars Technica’s coverage of NSA and  leaker Edward Snowden, who is at the center of much of the media coverage. Most recently, Ladar Levinson, the owner of Lavabit, a secure-email service that Snowden used in the past, shut down the service. Snowden is a former user of the service. 

We also discuss a recent Congressional vote on shutting down the NSA phone dragnet. Joe shares with us commentary on the Ars exclusive that he wrote about Ed Snowden’s former life in IRC chat rooms and in the Ars OpenForum. We discuss the recent job cuts inside the NSA and the how President Obama’s appointment of Director of National Intelligence James clapper to lead a panel reform. Joe also talks about a lack of transparency in the government’s interpretation of the law, and what implications it holds for future legislation and reform. 

What are your thoughts on the controversies surrounding the NSA and the legislation that governs privacy. Share your opinions with us in the comments below. 

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Earlier this week, Google’s breakfast event, the tech giant announced several new products and services, including Chromecast, a competitor to Apple TV, as well as the refreshed Nexus 7 tablet, which supersedes its predescessor on several fronts. Google also announced Android 4.3 (which we will be comparing to 4.2 on the site next week). That’s a whole lot of Google news to take in, and though Google Reader is now dead, we are ready to talk some analysis regarding product lines. In this episode, Ars Contributor Casey Johnston and Senior Products Specialist Andrew Cunningham discuss the new products, and Casey wonders if Google’s approach might be a disingenuous funnel that leads all users to eventually be forced into using Google+ someday. Will the Chromecast , and whatever happened to Google TV? Again, all paths seeem to lead back to Google+, according to Casey. Join us in this Google-filled episode. 

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In this episode we talk about NASA in light of next week’s 44th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. We are excited to welcome special guest Amy Shira Teitel, who specializes in writing about the history of NASA. According to Amy, the Apollo 11 trip was the beginning of the end of our perception of space travel. The mission set up the expectation that space travel was only limited by our imaginations, but the facts and requirements of actual space travel tell a different story, Amy tell us. 

In this episode we also cover many historical events and controversies in NASA’s history.Amy talked to us about the differences between the feasibility of traveling to the Moon versus Mars. She also discussed the roles of women in NASA mission and space travel. She also shares with us the story of how a rogue sandwich might make history in outer space. To hear the rest of these stories in NASA history, tune in to the show. 

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In this episode of the Technicast, we set out to take a look back at the announcements we covered at E3 last week. Gaming Editor Kyle Orland and Senior Products Specialist Andrew Cunningham were on site at the event, and they joined me and co-host Casey Johnston to provide some analysis on announcemnts.

But then a funny thing happened. Just a couple of hours after we recorded, Microsoft announced that it was reversing its stance on used games in the XBox One. (Kyle also wrote about some of its implications afterward). 

At the top of this episode, you’ll hear us talk about the breaking news, and what we think it means for the battle between Microsoft and Sony for gamer’s console of choice. Then we time shift back to our recap of E3, where we noticed that a few items, like DRM, flew “under the radar.”

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While the Internet’s saturating itself like a wet sponge with rumors about what Apple has in store for iOS at the World Wide Developers conference, the Ars Technicast is staying dry and packing its bags to cover the conference next week. As we do so, we thought we’d talk about what we can expect from Apple this time around. 

In this episode we discuss a few areas of iOS that we feel could use an overhaul or some much-needed attention, while staying away from the old rehash of Internet rumors about what Apple will include in iOS 7. We also talk about some of the possible refreshes that Apple may announce for product lines, such as MacBook Air and MacBook Pros. Join Social Editor Cesar Torres, Ars Associate Writer Casey Johnston, Senior Products Specialist Andrew Cunningham in this episode as we prepare to send off our crew to WWDC. 

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In this episode we debate the issue of 3D printers and the patterns and designs available to make handgun components. We shed some light on the previous coverage we have written here at Ars Technica on the subject, and we talk about how difficult or expensive it might be to try to print out these handguns or try to mass produce them. We also talk about the potential regulation of this phenomenon, and how handmade guns compare to other technologies that can be put to nefarious uses. Join hosts Social Editor Cesar Torres and Ars Contributing Writer Casey Johnston, and Senior Products Specialist Andrew Cunningham, and Senior Reviews Editor Lee Hutchinson as we delve into the world of 3D printing and its ramifications.

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Now that you can watch a movie on your laptop, tablet, or even your phone, the cinema has a lot of new options to compete against. The cinema is not dead, but it sure is evolving. Many of us at Ars Technica enjoy the trip to the theater to see a movie, and as the summer movie season gears up, we talk about some of the upcoming films we want to see, including Man of Steel, Pacific Rim, Star Trek: Into Darkness, The Great Gatsby, and more.

Also, we explore whether movies have the same impact for us when we watch them on a tv or mobile screen. And inevitably, we also talk about the ways in which television has evolved and eventually competed against standalone movies. Yeah, there’s a lot of folks who think a tv series might actually be better than a 2-hour feature film. That’s sure to get some fans riled up. Join host Senior Apple Editor Jacqui Cheng, Senior Reviews Editor Lee Hutchinson, Contributor Casey Johnston, and Social Editor Cesar Torres in this episode dedicated to our love affair with the movies.

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Nowadays, when a big story breaks, one of the first places that people go to for information are social sites. Reactions on social media have become part of the headlines themselves, as social networks like Facebook and Twitter are used to both distribute and consume news. These are not like the news cycles of the past. With so much immediate information in the form of news, rumor and analysis, we set out to discuss what makes news in 2013 different than before the arrival of social.  But even if people are using social media to disseminate the news, have the behaviors of people changed all that much?We set out to discuss these topics in this episode of the Ars Technicast.

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Facebook announced Facebook Home last week, and they want users to get really cozy. So cozy that your friends' news feed updates will take over the screen of the phone, putting Facebook interactions and messaging at the forefront of the OS. Will this be a success for Facebook? In this episode of the Ars Technicast, we talk about the specs and features of the HTC handset that comes pre-loaded with Facebook Home. As we discuss Facebook home itself, we talk about user experience, messaging habits, and what we do and don’t want in our feeds. Join host Senior Apple Editor Jacqui Cheng, Reviews Editor Florence Ion, Contributor Andrew Cunningham, and Social Editor Cesar Torres in this episode that touches on social networking, smart phones and the way we connect. 

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Over the years, some of us have left behind online services. In some cases, we closed out the account, and in others, it languished in the graveyard of the Internet. Today, we talk about the ghosts they left behind. Some of the services we talk about in this show include the original Hotmail, AOL, LiveJournal and MySpace. Join Host Senior Apple Editor Jacqui Cheng, Ars Contributors Casey Johnston and Andrew Cunningham, and Social Editor Cesar Torres, in this look back at the things we abandoned as our lives grew more connected with the Internet.

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