Techstream with Shelly Palmer and Seth Everett Underdog Podcasts

Politicians are coming to break up Big Tech (companies like Google and Facebook).

There's a long history of vertically-integrated companies, but this move is so ill-conceived that it proves that our elected officials don't have a clue what's going on.

Is putting the right ad in front of the right person at the right place at the right time criminal? How is that bad for anyone?

The big issue is that this act doesn't frame the problem. In this episode, we frame what's being discussed and what the “real” issues are – and why they're nearly impossible to legislate.

Shelly just got back from Germany, and while he was flying back, crypto fell apart in a way that is testing the faith of the faithful.

Today, we're not trying to explain WHY this happened or what to do now. (It's also important to remember that we're not offering financial advice and we are not licensed, financial advisors.)

Instead, we're talking about understanding "the allure of cryptocurrency" and why so many people thought it was a "get rich quick" scheme. We also compare our current crypto craze to a few different similar "test, fail, and learn" examples through history.

Plus: Shelly also talks about his time in Germany and everything he learned!

The thing that bothers Seth the most in life? Forgetting a password.

We all have password managers, but when you need to enter passwords across fifty different devices, things become a bit more… complicated. (And annoying.)

The good news: we're one step closer to a passwordless future! The FIDO Alliance is here to save us all a bunch of headaches. We talk about their plan for that blissful future.

Before we get there, though, having strong passwords is still important. We offer tips on creating (and remembering) strong passwords to keep your accounts secure.

Plus: if youre planning to see Doctor Strange (but havent yet), Seth makes an impassioned plea for some "Techstream homework."

The biggest news story in the tech world over the past two weeks has been Elon Musk's desire to buy Twitter. The deal at first seemed impossible (or at the very least improbable), but now the deal is official: Twitter has accepted Elon's offer of $44 billion to buy the company.

Now that the deal is done, it's time to make sense of things.

Why does Elon Musk want to own Twitter? What does he want to do with the platform?

We discuss what Elon buying Twitter means for both the company and its users. What will change? What will stay the same? Will we notice a difference?

It's a "breaking news" edition of Techstream!

We've talked about what happens when major companies get hacked when Shelly gets hacked (both his crypto hack and getting spoofed this week!), when just about anyone gets hacked. No matter who we're talking about, though, one thing that always comes up is VPNs.

Seth's kind of at a loss. He's heard everything from both ends of the spectrum: from employers having the ability to see EVERYTHING on his computer if he used a VPN to being able to completely mask where his computer is physically located.

So… What is a VPN and what is the point of having one? To be honest or to be a liar?

That's the topic of today's episode of Techstream. We talk about the benefits of VPNs, whether or not they can be used in Russia, and how VPNs affect ad sales and streaming services.

Play ball! The baseball season started, and it's the first season in 25 years that Seth isn't covering baseball. While the pace of play may have chased him away from the sport – at least for now – many others are still watching.

When MLB resolved its lockout last month, they made two quiet announcements: they'd start streaming Friday night games on Apple TV and Sunday midday games on Peacock. Streaming is no longer complicated or restrictive as it once was. While technophobes exist, the process of watching these games couldn't be easier.

The new issues: Apple TV's first broadcast crashed, and there are now more places than ever where your team's game may air. Today, we talk about the state of the baseball union: where things are, how to watch, and what you need to know… if you actually want to watch.