Category: podcast

Jon Westfall and I discuss the recently announced iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X as well as the Apple Watch Series 3 in this podcast. We also discuss the passing of Jon’s Mac mini server and his problems with Sonos speakers.

In this podcast Jon Westfall and I discuss:

1. Jerry Pournelle, RIP. Some know of him from his SF novels. Others know of him from his incredible Chaos Manor column run in BYTE magazine which, I believe, influenced directly or indirectly everyone today who writes about technology. He moved tech writing from a dry dull style to a one with a point of view (the consumer) and opinions based on hands-on experience. True to form, he kept writing until the day before he passed away.
2. A belated Happy Star Trek Day (Sept. 8)
3. Ookla 2017 Q1 & Q2 mobile and landline speed test data
4. USPS Informed Delivery Service
5. Is Apple breaking the Tick Tock cycle that started with the iPhone 3G and 3GS? No tock? Jump from iPhone 7/7+ to 8, 8+, and X. No “S”. Ref: 9to5Mac
6. Jon’s NAS Story. Twice bitten, Very Shy (CrashPlan, previously Mozy)

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

Jon Westfall and I didn’t find much in the way of interesting tech news to discuss. So, we threw in a few topics we simply found interesting.

1. IFA 2017? Meh. Ref: TechRadar
2. Are we excited about any of these IOS 11 features? Ref: Business Insider
3. What about WatchOS 4?
4. VPN services. Private Internet Access & Tunnel Bear.
5. Protesting dinosaurs in D.C.
6. Miniature horse service animal. Guide Horse Foundation
7. Question for the ages: Where do single socks go when they disappear from a dryer? I currently have three socks who have been abandoned by their partner.
8. ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code W56.22XA. Struck by orca, initial encounter. W56.22XA is a billable/specific ICD-10-CM code that can be used to indicate a diagnosis for reimbursement purposes.

   Jon’s notes: Subsequent encounter is also a separate code (22XD). Accidental contact also has some great things I’ve never considered having contact with: Giraffe (How does one have accidental contact with a Giraffe?!?), Also W22.09 is walking into stationary objects. However lampposts have their own code W22.02).

9. Microsoft and Amazon teaming up to let Alexa and Cortana work with each other. Ref: ars technica

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

Guest panelist Don Sorcinelli joins Jon Westfall and me for this podcast. We discussed:

1. Windy.com animated wind information site.
2. Ref: FiveThirtyEight. If Waffle House Is Closed, It’s Time To Panic
3. Amazon lowering Whole Foods prices, Prime member discounts, & more. NPR
4. GIMP 2.9.6 released. This used to be important news to me because good bitmap graphic tools used to be expensive and relatively scarce (because of price). However, graphic tools are now cheap and plentiful on the iPad.
5. Bitcoin Energy Consumption
6. Crashplan exits the home market, irks Jon and others. Jon’s plan: Build a NAS
7. Starting to consider buying iPhone 8 / Apple Watch 3

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

Jon Westfall is back. In this podcast, we discuss:

1. Facebook Draw.io. Free web-based diagram tool that can save to a number of cloud services as well as your local device. Ref: Facebook
2. Tunnel Bear VPN public security audit
3. Firefox Focus for iOS & Android. “Instead of every beta bell and whistle, Focus has only one screen; a min amt of btns; no stored passwords or bandwidth hogging; and won’t remember your history. Focus also blocks third-party trackers automatically, giving you a faster and more private mobile search and browsing experience by default.”
4. Google Home. Free calls in US/Canada. Now $109. Down from $129.
5. Android O. (Oreo?) event on total eclipse day, Aug. 24. Ref: Android Police. Google Android Eclipse web page

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6. Jon’s Tech Discussion: Could you go without data on your smartphone (e.g., no cellular data, just wifi)
7. Jon’s Sad Tech Tale: Starcraft Remastered ($15)

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

In this podcast, I’m joined by Ricky Li and Ryan Ozawa for a second all-Hawaii panel. They revisit the Gnarbox and Google Fi before moving on to discuss Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index, the new SEA-US undersea cable to Hawaii, Google warning well-known mainstream websites about annoying advertisements, and Apple iPhone and Watch speculation.

1. New Speedtest Global Index. Ref: Speedtest Blog. US #46 and falling in mobile ranking. #9 and holding steady in fixed broadband.
2. New undersea cable SEA-US
3. Google warning sites with annoying advertisements. Ref: Advertising Age
4. Ricky’s Google Fi experience and learned hacks after his first week with the service.
5. iOS beta woes
   iPhone Pro?
   Apple Watch 4?

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.