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Ep. 298 – PBS American Experience’s “Silicon Valley” Filmmaker Randall MacLowry
Jan 31st
Randall MacLowry, Silicon Valley filmmaker of PBS American Experience Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (158)TOPIC: Fabulous show this week, as we get a sneak peek and in-depth discussion about the upcoming documentary “Silicon Valley.” Randall MacLowry gives us his take on the genesis of not only the technologies and hardware we depend on every day, but also the innovations to culture and business that men like Robert Noyce (founder of Intel) heralded. The show comes out February 5th on your local PBS station, so set your DVR’s today!
Jay Garmon answers last week’s question and as always gives us another fantastic Geek Trivia question for the coming week:
What is the oldest viable DNA sample ever recovered?
No time for coolsites of the week (Randy was just too great of an interview), but you should go to PBS’ website for the “Silicon Valley” program for more information about the program and related content.
On-air song of the week this week is “Line of Fire” by Junip!
Ep. 292 – Speaking Naturally with Nuance’s Peter Mahoney!
Dec 19th
Peter Mahoney of Nuance and Dragon Naturally Speaking [ 59:55 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (87)
TOPIC: Peter Mahoney of Nuance and Dragon Naturally Speaking fame comes on-air today to discuss the ins and outs of Voice Recognition software and technology, and gives listeners a phenomenal insight to not just the tech, but the business and history! If you’ve ever wondered where those hidden Markov models went to, or then again, even if you hadn’t, this is a great show to tune into!
Even before Peter comes on, we hit some high points with good friend Dave “Sparky” Saganaki joining us from his International digs, and of course Jay Garmon jumps in to keep us on track and tickle our brains with his Geek Trivia of the week:
What is the first of the many, many things wrong with the upcoming “Mayan Apocalypse”? (Hint: you can start with the words themselves …)
No cool sites of the week this week, but we do kick off our first giveaway in a long time, with a generous offering of Dragon Naturally Speaking, v12 that will be delivered direct to you! All you need to do is:
- Go “Like” us at http://facebook.com/techtalkwrlr
- Send an email telling me you did (plus your address and anything else necessary to get a package to you) at techtalk@wrlr.fm
- There is no number 3 – that’s it!
I couldn’t resist sealing this one with some more Alt-J awesomeness. This one’s “Breezeblocks” and also has an awesome video online if you get the chance to chase it down!
Ep. 279 – Matt Richtel’s Floodgate
Sep 12th
TOPIC: That’s right, good friend of the show Matt Richtel is back – and so is Nat Idle (or at least a cameo). Matt and Mike get deep into search privacy, data dives and more … a lot more – you’ll have to listen to get the whole scoop! Of course, regular Jay Garmon is with us and, after discussing what we would do with a lock of Neil Armstrong’s hair, provides this tasty cerebral nugget:
What is the only non-technical Emmy that the Star Trek franchise has ever won?
Too much great conversation means no cool sites this week (though don’t forget to head over to http://mattrichtel.com for more on Floodgate, Cloud and Matt’s other books), but we do fit in a great, jazzy song by Jamie Lidell - ”Multiply”
Ep. 269 – Monkey swipe, monkey do!
May 16th
TOPIC: That’s right, tablets so easy even an orangutan can use them! Teaching an old orang tech may be just as difficult as getting your parents to stop inappropriately tweeting however … We also cover all the class action and other tech suits that seem to be all the rage this week. Between google and oracle, and all you ipod owners and Apple (you mean you didn’t realize you were suing Apple? Now you know!). After some more Ebook pricing discussion and a comparison of reading Ebooks on kindle vs ipad, Jay Garmon give us this stumper:
What special version of chess was the first version ever played by a computer?
Coolsites of the week are !
- SF Signal – In the ‘Podcasts better than this one’ category … don’t stop listening to us, but by all means you should be listening to SF Signal too!
- Draw Something (iOS, Android) – Tablet only game that lets you play virtual pictionary against strangers. More fun than it sounds!
- OnLive Desktop (iOS, Android) – Windows 7 desktop for your iPad! Upload docs to the OnLive cloud for editing and management.
- CloudOn (iOS) – Lets you edit and use Office2010 docs and apps, but doesn’t force you to use their cloud to do it! You can connect with dropbox, box, or google docs!
- Pocket (iOS) – Save websites, pictures and articles for later, offline reading. Similar to the more popular Instapaper, but more seamlessly integrated and usable IMHO.
The podcast only song of the week is “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye.
Ep. 247 – NYT Tech Writer Nick Bilton
Oct 25th
TOPIC: Mike fights through a bad headcold to bring an excellent show to your ears – thanks mostly to his guests of course! Lead technology writer for the New York Times and author of the book “I Live in the Future & Here’s How it Works” Nick Bilton comes on for a solid half hour of cerebral social networking discussion, and we have Scott Andraschko, Director of IT for the Round Lake Area Schools as a special guest chiming in with some great insights too!
As if that wasn’t enough, we bring in regular Jay “Encyclopedia” Garmonica with another awesome geek trivia of the week:
What celebrity owned the GMail.com domain name in 2004, when Google purchased it for their mail service?
Nick provides a few great coolsites of the week, plus have time for one of our own too:
- TaskRabbit – Per Nick Bilton: Real people taking care of the tasks you don’t want to! Pay per job and find qualified safe help through Task Rabbit.
- FancyHands – Per Nick Bilton: Ever thought you might need a personal assistant? Here’s an easy (and relatively cheap) way to get one today! Research, rescheduling meetings, phone calls and letters … all for one set price per month!
- FaxDesk – Still faxing? But no fax machine? FaxDesk offers instant fax to email and email to fax services with one-off or permanent numbers.
The podcast only song of the week this week is “Je Veux te Voir” by Yelle.
Ep. 242 – Who dat Zagat? Google’s got Zagat, dat who!
Sep 13th
TOPIC: OK, OK, I know our title means less than usual this week, but we do discuss the Googlicious acquisition of Zagat this week – as well as an in-depth cover story about how to pronounce the word Zagat and some of your other favorite tech terms! We also tell you why you can’t trust Google’s ratings or search results to be completely unbiases.
Jay Garmon returns after what sounds like an incredible time at Dragoncon, so we not only get the geek trivia of the week, but he clues us in on some of the awesomeness that was happening at D*C. Here’s that geek trivia question too:
Every winter the LHC is forced to shut down. Why?
That didn’t leave a ton of time for coolistes of the week, but as usual we manage to sneak in a couple of good ones:
- ApplyMate – Great free online app for keeping track of your job and/or college applications!
- Room-o-rama – Want to stay in a non-traditional type of setting? Roomorama sets you up to stay in cool apartments, houses for rent, and etc. in great locations around the world!
The podcast only song of the week is “Jesus is Just Alright” by DC Talk!
Ep. 239 – Fake Review Ferrets!
Aug 22nd
TOPIC: Dave is in the house again! Tired, wet, but here, and he helps Mike figure out the ferreting of fake online reviews! Not only that, but the first reports of the HP WebOS tablets comes through, and they’re going like hotcakes!
Jay Garmon joins us with some fantastic geek trivia as usual:
What is the synonym for the word “medieval” that exists only because of a malfunctioning profanity filter?
And a handful of coolsites of the week to close it out:
- Kibin – Community editing of your documents; perfect for the start of school, and you can choose to be edited or be an editor!
- Meraki Stumblr – A website that provides detailed information about all the wifi signals in your immediate area, no download required!
- Mermailer – Control the flood of email that comes into your inbox by scheduling digests. Free and useful!
The podcast only song of the week is “It’s Too Late” by Dirty South (vs. Evermore)!
Ep. 234 – Autobots Rise Up!
Jun 27th
TOPIC: Google’s got robot cars roaming the highways and by-ways of America! Mike and Dave discuss this and more on this week’s episode. Plus, Jay Garmon tells us why you should sign up for Conglomeration.net today, and then throws this humdinger at us:
What two movies created by a famous Hollywood geek pushed the PG rating so far that the MPAA created PG-13?
Just time for a couple of coolsites this week, with:
- DeliveReads- Get curated news delivered to your kindle weekly, automatically, freely!
- Brain Workshop – Based on some of the newest brain research going on, these games are sure to keep you busy if not smarter!
Podcast only song of the week is “When I’m Wrong” by Weep.
Ep. 222 – Oh No, Yoko!
Mar 22nd
TOPIC: Dave’s very own version of the TechTalk Yoko absconds with him to the wintry wastelands of Canada this week, leaving Mike to fend for himself against the many, many scams regarding Japan and the tragedy there this week. A special mid-show coolsites for charities includes:
- Guidestar – Checks out those charities for you, including percentages of distribution!
- USAID – Lots of links to legitimate International charities.
Mike loses himself for a while in a rant about the NYTimes and their bizarre paywall creation. Fortunately Jay Garmon still has time for us, and presents this doozy of a trivia question:
What are the two types of spacecraft propulsion that Mariner 10 was the first spacecraft in history to use?
We manage to get a few coolsites of the week in there too:
- Google Cloud Connect – From Google, this allows you to connect up all of your Google docs and storage directly to your Microsoft Office Apps!
- ScreenPresso – A really great (and free) screenshot and video maker! Has some pro features you’d have to pay for, but most of the goodness is gratis!
And we end with the podcast only song of “Journey of the Sorcerer” by the Eagles!
Ep. 204 – Phoning It In
Oct 25th
TOPIC: No Dave “Sparky” Saganaki around to keep Mike in check means you get to hear a LOT about cell phones, cell service, the death of GOOG-411 and everything phone related this week! Why? No one’s really sure what Mike’s hangup is, but Jay Garmon even joins in the fun!
Jay is of course eager to tell us about conglomeration.info (the ultra-hip sci-fi convention happening in Louisville, KY this Easter but we keep him focused on geek trivia long enough to answer the question of the week last week and ask yet another fantastic one:
What unit of measure is used to define the energy output of a supernova?
We’ve got so many coolsites of the week bunkered up we decided to just start throwing ‘em out there, so here’s the first “dump” – check back next week for another great grouping too!
- Hiren’s Boot CD – If you’ve ever needed an emergency boot CD, you’ll immediately see the value here, but if not, check it out and all the cool things it will let you do to your “broken” machine; reset passwords, make an image, check viruses, and on and on.
- GroupMe – Got a bunch of friends that you text to regularly, and hate having to pass on the info to everyone? Did you somehow become the elected ‘switchboard’? Not any more! Use a groupme number to send everyone a message simultaneously, or even set up an on-the-fly conference call!
- Aviary – A whole suite of cool online tools for audio and image editing. Make your own music or edit something you’ve already created, no need for an account!
- Fiverr – Got five bucks burning a whole in your pocket? Have something unique or a little crazy you’re willing to do for a fiver? This is the place to go!
- Hanzismatter – How much did you pay for that chinese character on your back? Are you sure it says what you think it does? Get the real scoop here, and see some hilarious mistakes non-Chinese speakers have made … permanently inscribed on their bodies!
We take a little detour with our podcast only song of the week and give you Killing Monsters in the Rain by Steel Train!
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