DescriptionThis week, Apple reveals their private thoughts, Valve reveals they're cloning again and Amazon reveals it wants to expand its media reach.ParticipantsScott ErtzHostScott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLuGHiTz Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the DDR community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bar Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and judging engineering notebooks at competitions. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors.Avram PiltchHostAvram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.OpeningPowered by TeknoAXENifty GiftiesPowered by Microsoft StoreApple Hacked by Teenage Fan, Claims Customer Accounts are SafeA teen in Australia pleaded guilty this week in Children's Court to hacking into Apple's secure network several times across the past year and accessing various systems. Among his intrusions, he downloaded over 90GB of secure data and accessed customer account information. His lawyer told the court that his client, 16, had hacked into the network because he is a fan of the company and dreamed of working there.read full articlePiltch Point with Avram PiltchPowered by Newegg.comExtra LifePowered by RazerValve Continues to Clone Competing Products and ServicesIt was just a couple of weeks ago that Valve introduced their Discord clone into the Steam ecosystem. Discord shot back by introducing their own game store last week. This week, it would appear that Valve is not finished challenging their competitors with new services, either to directly compete or drive customers away from those companies.read full articleNews From the TubesPowered by RiffTraxAustralia is Not Interested in Privacy, Wants to Restrict EncryptionOver the past few years, cryptography has been a big topic of conversation. First, cryptocurrencies have brought the topic into the mainstream, with the blockchains that most cryptocurrencies run on top of using various encryption methods to protect the blockchain data. Second, most major messaging systems have implemented encrypted messaging, with some (like Signal) using it always, and others (Facebook Messenger) enabling it as a setting. Third, most of the operating systems encrpt data with built-in technology, including Windows 10 and Android.read full article* DRM Not IncludedPowered by Amazon PrimeIf You're a Media Company, Amazon Has Its Sights on YouAmazon has a fairly large presence in the media market even if they do lag behind in all of their markets. Prime Video doesn't quite compete with Netflix or Hulu. Amazon Music doesn't quite compete with Spotify or Apple Music. Even Fire TV doesn't quite compete with Chromecast. If Amazon has their way, that might be about to change.read full articleClosingPowered by Tech Podcast Network