We continue with sharing some of our top tech stories from the year including the Equifax settlement terms, failed IPOs in the tech space, Amazon’s flops of the year, and FTC’s fine levied on Facebook. In other tech news, a new phishing email scheme is stealing your payment information from gas station systems. Ring’s Neighbors app was found to be leaking the precise location of each camera and allowed Gizmodo reporters to map out thousands of cameras across specific regions.

We take a moment to look back at some of the top stories of this year including the failure of MoviePass, how AT&T hijacked 5G, poorly ran Congressional hearings, and listening in on voice assistant devices. Google announced some details on their latest augmented reality platform known as ARCore, which boasts incredible capabilities and application. An era is ending at Google as Larry Page and Sergey Brin are stepping down as executives within the Alphabet organization.

Rick Limpert – the #1 sports technology writer in the United States, joins the podcast to talk about holiday tech gifts and gadgets. Rick offers up a wide range of tech gift ideas and shares the tech gifts that go well beyond the tablets, phones, and gaming systems. We dive into talking about high tech Huffy bikes, Amazon Echo Flex, Samsung soundbars, the World Almanac, an affordable GPS golf watch, and eco-friendly clothing. So be sure to place these items in your shopping carts this holiday season.

We are looking at the recent focus on the electrification of trucks in the automotive industry. Tesla announced the addition of the Cyber Truck to their model line, much to the pleasure of some and to the displeasure of others. The automotive manufacturers in the United States continue to invest billions in building and developing hundreds of electric vehicles to consumers. We share what the major automakers are creating and when to expect new vehicles. Lastly, after suffering nearly 250 ransomware attacks, Finland orchestrated a nationwide training scenario to combat future attempts.

The California Consumer Privacy Act in set to take effect in 2020 which provides some level of protection and leverage for consumers when it comes to the personal data collected by companies. John Legere is stepping down as T-Mobile CEO after a tremendously successful six year run in which he brought the dying telecom company into relevance. Motorola is set to release a modern version of the Razr, the foldable phone that will tug at the nostalgic heart strings of some listeners. There are some new data points in the latest cord cutting trend that are worthy of sharing and debating.

We kick off the show with a brief reflection on Veteran’s Day and how technology has changed the landscape of military defense. SpaceX continues to create impressive headlines with their fourth launch of Falcon 9 and first time reuse of their payload fairing. Chrome is considering instituting a system for essential grading the speeds of websites as they load in hopes of creating a better user experience. Lastly, Google orchestrated a purchase of Fitbit as the internet giant takes a major set into the wearable market.

This week we dive into Air Force’s super secretive plane that was testing autonomous and unmanned space travel as well as testing a broad range of technologies. A recreational drone grounded firefighting helicopters in California causing deserved discussion on the need for more education and punishment for illegal drone use. Black Friday is already here and has quickly become a month long event for consumers and retailers.

California is gripping with power outages and wildfires, and it begs the question over concerns with using an electric grid system built on antiqued technology. By all accounts, Microsoft shocked the cloud computing world when it was announced that the Seattle-based company was awarded a $10 billion federal government contract over Amazon Web Services. Lastly, SpaceX is testing a new satellite internet service to reach half of the world’s population that has no access to an internet connection.

Google Maps is rolling out a new controversial feature that provides users locations of police traps and DUI/DWI checkpoints, something that law enforcement is not pleased with. Astronauts Dr. Jessica Meir and Ms. Christina Koch made history as they became the first all-female duo to conduct a space walk, which includes conversations with the president and live viewers. Tesla continues to make tremendous progress both in vehicle sales and notice on the roadways, but they are terrible at making money and it is catching up with them.