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T.R.I.P. Episode 49: The Show That Almost Wasn't and Probably Shouldn't Be

Recorded 2/21/2013

Do you remember a couple of months ago when Skype crashed on us and it wiped out the 10 minutes of recording we'd done up to that point? After that incident I started recording using NowSmart Talkin' again in addition to having PowerGrammo auto-record within Skype. It's a good thing because just before the show PowerGrammo asked if I wanted to update. I had some time so I let it do its thing. Everything appeared seamless and we went on about our ramblings. It wasn't until I disconnected - after "recording" for over an hour - and the conversion window didn't pop up that I realized that PowerGrammo hadn't launched when Skype relaunched after the update. I've fixed it but if I hadn't rolled on that backup recording we wouldn't have this hunk of happiness for you to listen to.

Update: I wrote that before I ever listened to the recording. It's pretty spectacularly bad. The backup recorder was misbehaving because of the hardware changes from my recent repair. The only way I could get it to accept the signal from my microphone in the brief moments I had before we started the Skype call was to select "stereo mix" as an input. If you don't know, that means 'record whatever is coming through the sound card.' On my end that's not such a problem but, because it was recording Kevin from the speaker output, as it was supposed to, it was also recording him from the stereo mix and there's a slight delay between the two. The echo is bad. Listen if you dare. 

Note: I would recommend listening to the Robert Ballard stuff from 13:35 to 21:37. The sound byte starts at 20:37. You should also listen to Robbie's voice mail starting at 1:08:43 and the HILARIOUS interpretation by Google Voice that starts at 1:09:54.

On tonight's episode we cover promising news in cancer research, more on gene patents, Guy Fieri, and there was something about the Playstation 4. Plus we have a sound byte from oceanographer Dr. Robert Ballard.

Tonight's News

• Playstation 4! Okay, next
• Promising breakthrough in cancer research
• Guy Fieri didn't register the right web address, and left himself open to satire
• And the original hilarious restaurant review
• Successful petition will force white house to tell us why it's illegal to unlock a cell phone
• Here's the original petition
• The web has 19 degrees of separation
• Monsanto still trying to apply intellectual property to genes. I have nothing funny to say about this
• Blendtec CEO stepping down: Will it still blend? 10 favorite videos
• More video fun: 10 amazing dog trick videos (Jesse! that was his name! It was Jesse.)
• And even MORE video frivolity: Watch This RC Car Chase Through a Miniature Cardboard City
• Stargate SG1: Unleashed video game promo released, and it looks friggin' sweet
• Jar Jar Binks, the Star Wars villain
• Google Glass can't get hear fast enough
• Garkov, the hilarious Garfield reimagining using Markov chains

Robert Ballard

• Bio at National Geographic
• Bio on Wikipedia
• Bio at achievement.org
• Nautilus Live
• The Jason Project

Technology Term of the Day:

VOIP: Voice Over IP (Internet Protocol)

Extra Links (stuff we didn't get to and bizarre references we made)

• FCC Orders 2 Million People to Power Down Cell Phone Boosters
• 21st Century Buildings That Look Like Alien Spaceships
• Burger King’s Twitter account Hamburgled, announces sale to McDonald’s
• Best Buy Confirms Price-Matching Policy Change With “Low-Price Guarantee”
• Bill Gates 'not satisfied' with Microsoft's innovations
• Watch People Get High and Then Fail a Driving Test

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T.R.I.P. Episode 48 - We Wobble But We Don't Fall Down

Recorded 2/17/2013

Things are getting back to normal. Joe's PC is back to full functionality. Tonight we have meteors, genetic patents, a practically unserviceable tablet, and ZOMBIES! Plus, Kevin does a mime show. It's really fantastic. Really it is. You'll have to listen to believe it.

Tonight's News

• Meteorite explodes over Russia
• And Congress wants to hold a hearing about why we didn't know it was going to happen
• Australian court says genes are patentable
• Administration urges SCOTUS not to hear file sharing appeal
• MS Surface Pro a sticky tablet to repair
• Home Depot says bye-bye Blackberry
• EAS gets hacked with zombie attack alert over Montana television stations
• Watch a coin rolling on a treadmill
• Cool video of the week: A bazooka that shoots ping-pong balls at Mach speed
• Listener link from Carl: No good deed goes unpunished
• Listener link from Carl: Emergency Alert System devices vulnerable to hacker attacks, researchers say

Technology Term of the Day:

• Vaporware: A product, typically computer hardware or software, that is announced to the general public but is never actually released nor officially cancelled. 

Extra Links (stuff we didn't get to and bizarre references we made)

• Amazing Views of the World’s Volcanoes From the International Space Station
• Comedian Chris Hardwick on the Epic Story That Shaped a Generation (Star Wars)
• Verizon FAIL: Verizon FiOS Misplaces My Set-Top Box For 7 Weeks, Expects Me To Pay $350
• Just under $10K for a smartphone? Seriously? It better be pretty damn smart! Dang, it's not even pretty.
• Oscars Poster Commemorates 85 Years of 'Best Picture'
• 'Doctor Who' Discovers a New Dimension: 3D

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T.R.I.P. Episode 47 - It's Been a Long Week Today

Recorded 2/9/2013

A comedy of arrows (yes, I meant to say that) has kept us from our appointed rounds. Between work and family obligations, illness, and computers losing some of their magic smoke we've had a hard time coordinating the production of the podcast. We explain a little more in depth in the opening segment.

Tonight we talk about increased capacity and stolen storage, blocking the used game market, double-double DNA, net neutrality violations and companies making an exit from the consumer segment.

So grab yourself a cup of tea, Earl Grey, hot, and let us entertain you as we stumble through a makeshift recording configuration.

Tonight's News

• When playing Monopoly you will now have wrinkled clothes with cat hair on them
• 2.2 Petabytes in DNA. Oh heck yes.
• And a quadruple helix found in humans.
• More cowbell! Apple releases 128GB iPad
• Microsoft seems to have missed math class in favor of marketing
• Small Pennsylvania cable company about to get painfully schooled in "net neutrality"
• Next-gen XBox will reportedly attempt to block the second-hand software market
• Newegg saves our butts and keeps a patent troll from eating online shopping carts alive
• Philips Bows Out of Consumer Electronics Business
• Intel Bows Out of the Motherboard Business
• A  comparison between data rates of the Internet and FedEx from XKCD
• Creator of Yoda has passed away at 98
• JJ Abrams Wants to Make 'Half-Life' and 'Portal' Movies
• A fan-made J.J. Abrams-esque Star Wars with EXTRA LENS FLARE!
• I'm switching to AT&T U-Verse because I was tired of this crap

Tech Term of the Day

• Bloatware:
• Software that has lots of features and requires considerable disk space and RAM. As the cost of RAM and disk storage has decreased, there has been a growing trend among software developers to disregard the size of applications.
• Software preinstalled on a device, usually by the hardware manufacturer, that is unwanted (and often useless).

Extra Links (stuff we didn't get to and bizarre references we made)

• Weird Al What the Fudgsicle? (that didn't get recorded on the audio)
• Pancake-Making Rube Goldberg Machine
• Banned license plates: DMV is hip to your txtspeak
• Why Star Trek Phasers Don’t Exist Yet
• Is It Legal to Rip a DVD That I Own?
• An Amateur Astronomer Helped Hubble Snap This Galactic Monster
• "A protostar throws a rave". Yeah, it's just as cool as it sounds.
• Amateur effort finds new largest prime number
• 9 Tips to Stay Safe on Public Wi-Fi

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Where'd We Go?

You may have noticed that we didn't publish an episode last week. The computer we use to record went belly-up and Joe's still working on getting it fixed. On top of that, Joe's equilibrium issues came back with a vengeance and, well, he's been too worn out to configure another solution. We might get an episode out this week, we might not. But we will be back!

T.R.I.P. Episode 46: Dude, We're Doing a Podcast

Recorded 1/26/2013

Kevin's been swamped at work and Joe's been down with a sinus infection so that didn't allow us much opportunity to scour the news as we normally do. We have a few significant stories, however, that we felt compelled to ramble upon. We talk home networking (and home computing in general), illegal things to do with your smart phone, and Star Wars - now with more lens flare!

Plus, tonight we fired up the web cams and actually had some face time. Not that you'll be able to participate because this is an audio-only show. And we promise not to do it again.

Tonight's News

• Belkin to acquire Cisco home division - including Linksys
• Dude! He thinks he can "save" Dell
• Unlocking your smartphone is now illegal
• Consumerist reports: Epson is a bunch of jerks
• Consumerist reports: So are all of the other inkjet printer manufacturers
• J.J. Abrams Will Reportedly Direct the Next Star Wars Movie

Extra Links (stuff we didn't get to and bizarre references we made)

• Check out the 76th Street Podcast!
• 10 funny tweets about J.J. Abrams directing 'Star Wars'
• Why DNA Will Someday Replace the Hard Drive
• New P2P Music Sharing Survey tells us stuff we've been guessing for the better part of a decade
• AT&T to buy Alltell. Again. This time not from Verizon. In other words, consumers brains everywhere start pounding.

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T.R.I.P. Episode 45 - FLANG and Shutup

Recorded 1/17/2013

Yowza! We rambled quite a bit on this show. I suppose if we had one of our shortest shows that covered a large amount of news last week we should have a show that's the longest to date and covers very little news this week. The full-length show is almost two hours and we cover passwords, outsourcing (you're doing it wrong), old stars (celestial), death stars and, inexplicably, hairdressers and horoscopes. We also have some listener feedback that takes us almost 20 minutes to cover because we just won't shut up. If you want to listen to the short(er) version sans the listener feedback, you can get it here.

Tonight's News

• Aaron's Law
• Aaron Swartz, internet pioneer
• Oldest star ever found. Still not as old as Joe (not funny, Kevin!... well, maybe just a little)
• Bad Grammar Make Good Password
• The Augmented Reality display we'll all be not wanting:
• Developer Outsources His Job to China (and another version)
• Milky Way galaxy home to 17 billion earth-sized planets!
• White House Says "No" to Death Star
• Petitions now require 100,000 signatures to get a response
• Facebook had an announcement! It was a dumbed down search engine for facebook only. And there was great meh-joicing

Technology Term of the Day:
Adaptive Design - Also, static layout, liquid/fluid sites, and responsive sites. Demo site here.

Extra Links (stuff we didn't get to and bizarre references we made)

• Netflix lands deal for Turner and Warner Bros. TV series beginning in March
• Google Declares War on the Password
• Korean researchers develop new flexible, more stable lithium-ion battery
• AT&T Now Offers FaceTime Over Cellular For Any Customer With A Tiered Data Plan (no word on whether a grandfathered unlimited data plan is considered a "tiered" plan)
• Think you're a genius? Take Mensa’s free test and find out. 
• iPhone rumors last week, iPad rumors this week
• Foremay claims to have the first 2TB, 2.5-inch SSDs
• Interesting video of the week: 2012 in 365 One-Second Video Clips

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