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Posts tagged kindle
Ep. 268 – iPad, uPad, we all Pad!
May 10th
TOPIC: Except Dave, that is … that’s right Dave has declared a moratorium on tablet discussion! Unfortunately, he chose the week that Mike got an iPad from work, so good luck with that 
Other than waaaay too much talk about tablets for Dave’s liking, we have a lot of fun discussion Amazon book price fixing, the Beastie Boys loss of Adam Yauch (MCA) and then Jay Garmon comes in to talk Avengers, JJ Abrams and this awesome question:
What is the legal definition (from 1893) of whether a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable, and why?
Coolsites of the week are actually Mike and Dave’s first Coo Apps of the week, with some of the best apps we’ve found so far!
- Vevo (iOS) – MTV (or VH1 for you oldsters out there) comes into the 21st century on your iPad! Watch music videos all day, every day with this sweet (and free) app.
- Flipboard (iOS) – Just about the best and prettiest news app you’re likely to find, it also integrates your twitter and facebook feeds into the stream!
- AppyGeek (Android) – Get geek news in a nicely formatted interface!
- KhanAcademy (iOS) – As cool as the online version, a great way to get access to educational materials and videos, for free!
- PBS (iOS) – PBS has a ton of great apps, but NOVA Elements is my favorite!
- FedePlayer (Android) – Downloads pictures and album covers of the music you are listening to.
Send us your favorite apps too, both Dave and I would love to hear them (and will share on-air next week!).
The podcast only song of the week is “Pass the Mic” by The Beastie Boys.
Ep. 262 – Windows 8 Unseen!
Mar 5th
TOPIC: Flying solo again this week, Mike takes down the consumer release of Windows 8 and tells you what to look for (and look out for)! Is it just a tablet OS?
Jay Garmon joins us (or should we say saves us?) with some fabulous discussion on tablets and reading, writing and the difficulty thereof. Are tablets just for media consumption, not creation? We also get very excited about virtual reality glasses and how they will be the way of the future … and then after a deep discussion on the conjoining of ebook technology and AR glasses, Jay jumps in with another fabulous trivia question of the week:
What glaring mathematical error in the Pioneer plaque defeats it’s purpose?
Some wonderful coolsites of the week finish us off:
- ByLiner – Follow your favorite authors and writers, and make sure not to miss any of their online content!
- SourceFabric - Download the free and opensource BookType to format your books into an eBook of any type!
- PaperWall – Awesome wallpaper site, with a huge collection of beautiful photography for your desktop! (Note: Some images may be NSFW)
The podcast only song of the week is “Only an Expert” by Laurie Anderson.
Ep. 255 – Reddit’s Erik Martin talks SOPA!
Jan 10th
TOPIC: You’ve heard Mike rant about SOPA often enough … it’s about time he got someone on-air knowledgeable about the darn thing! If you’ve been wondering what it is, or why we should hate it, Reddit‘s GM Erik Martin provides a much needed clear head and informed insight into the topic.
Not to let a show go without some sort of rant, Mike also gets his whine on about ereaders and newspapers and why they don’t combine forces offering low-cost ereaders with a subscription contract … which, judging by the news today somebody must have listened!
Jay Garmon joins us to answer last week’s geek trivia and present a great new one:
Who was the famous inventor that had the year 4000 exception suggestion to replace the leap year idea, and why was this suggestion not made into a rule?
We skip the whole coolsite of the week thing again (too much cool stuff going on with the show), but some places you should check out include:
- SOPA on Reddit – We discuss this on air, and it’s a great place to start for in-depth and current info about SOPA!
- Reddit.com – If you haven’t gotten there yet, well, it’s about time you did!
- TechTalk on Facebook – Don’t forget to “like” us if you’re a fan!
The podcast only song is the awesome “She Only Sleeps …” by David Byrne!
Ep. 244 – A Vaccination for Late Fees?
Sep 27th
TOPIC: OK, maybe not, but Mike and Dave cover so much ground (and go so far off the rails) there’s no possible headline that could encompass it all! Between bemoaning the anti-vaccer movement to Kindle library books and Spotify on Facebook, we get a lot of great conversation in … and the occasional bit of tech too!
Jay Garmon comes to us with yet another great geek trivia question:
Since ratification in 1972, how many people have filed suit under the space liability convention?
We go for quality not quantity this week on the coolsites with:
- Mouse Without Borders (download link) – Straight from microsoft’s garage, this KVM killer will let you run multiple machines with a single mouse and keyboard!
- F.Lux – adjusts your screen color and brightness automagically based on the time of day and your location.
The podcast only song of the week this week is “Bomba” by Jesse Matador!
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. 226 – Poker is Busted!
Apr 20th
TOPIC: Like playing poker online? Well, so did a lot of people apparently; enough so that when the government decided to bust ‘em all for money laundering and fraud there was quite an outcry! We miss Dave, but that’s just as well as he’s probably sick of Mike’s rants about Amazon and tax laws at this point, not to mention more discussion on the Kindle
Jay Garmon comes on and as usual stumps us with this trifle of trivia fun:
What word in the OED is directly credited to the Simpsons?
Without Dave, there’s finally ample time to get to a whole bunch of really cool cool sites of the day:
- EReaderIQ – Gets you connected to the best free kindle books (and alerts you if there’s a price drop on watched books)
- KindleFish – Google translate … for your kindle!
- MarkUp.io – Edit and markup web pages and then share the notes with your friends!
- LightWorks Beta – Llightworks open source video editor. Professional-grade movie editing software.
We end this week with the podcast only song “We Got Tonight (say it again)” by Sleeperstar!
Ep. 224 – Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked
Apr 5th
TOPIC: We’re missing Dave and Jay this week, so the title’s not just the podcast only song of the week, but a good description of Mike’s day! We still have a blast though, with tons of good info about April Fool’s day, new versions of old browsers you should try (or not), 10 top industries that are dying because of the Internet, and a decent set of coolsites:
- KindleFish – Google translate doesn’t work on your Kindle, but this will!
- Jog.FM – Great jogging/walking/cycling playlists created based on the pace and/or BPM you’re shooting for!
- DoItAgain – One of the fastest, cleanest macro makers we’ve seen at the TechTalk studios!
As promised, we end with the podcast only song of “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” by Cage the Elephant!
Ep. 221 – And the Kitchen Sink too!
Mar 6th
TOPIC: Tips from Conan, iPad2 bashing, more kindle talk, angry birds on your screen and a quick discussion of the not yet but soon to be released RIM Playbook – yes, we’re scattered, but gosh do we have a good time this week!
Our good friend Jay Garmon chimes in with lots of discussion and geeky goodness, and then leaves us with this cliffhanger:
What hall of fame rock band lent their music to be the theme of the original “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” radio plays?
We make up for the paucity of last week’s coolsites with a whole mess of ‘em this week:
- Backupify.com – Jay’s recommended way to never lose any of your cloud; gmail, twitter, facebook, you name it they got your back!
- The Warrior Dash – Via Lisa in Wisconsin, this has nothing to do with tech and everything to do with fun! Run obstacles, get muddy, be in shape!
- Hedgewars – Only the best (and most opensourcey) version of Scorched Earth or Worms … ever!
- dlvr.it – Pronounced “deliver it” this neat little site means you only ever have to post once and in one place to get your posts put in all your sharing sites … from twitter to linkedin to facebook and back again!
And we end with the podcast only song of “Robot” by Dan Mangan!
Ep. 214 – Kindle Love and More!
Jan 20th
TOPIC: Mike and Dave break down the good things – and the problem – with Mike’s new kindle, including how useful (or not) it may be for academicians.
Jay attempts to come on, we fight through some tech issues and finally get some great geek trivia!
What mathematical geek search technique was used to find the missing hydrogen bomb that was lost in the ocean in 1966?
We wrap it up with some great cool sites of the week too:
- 2011 Compact Calendar – David Seah does it again with an incredibly useful and customizable compact calendar!
- Yet Another 2011 Calendar – Actually a whole bunch of them, take your pick!
- Perform (nearly) Any Task from your Address Bar – A fantastic list of things you can do with your address bar, got to be read to be believed, and shouts out to LifeHacker once again!
Gotta love that music – this week our podcast only song of the week is Maximum Balloon (vs. David Byrne) with Apartment Wrestling!
(NOTE: Due to licensing issues we instead play The Killer’s “Somebody Told Me” on the podcast – sorry to be confusing!)
Ep. 198 – The Book is Dead; Long Live the Book!
Aug 12th
TOPIC: Wondering about whether you should pull that paper mill investment out of your portfolio? Eric Ginsberg of Bookswim comes on air to tell us why you just might want to hold onto your bookshelves for a little bit longer in a really great talk this morning. You can also read the really great follow-up article on Slate – after listening to us, of course!
Jay Garmon then graces us with his inimitable presence, and unlike last week it all goes off without a hitch in this newest installment of geek trivia:
What famous, golden-age actress holds a patent for the underlying technology of wi-fi?
The talk with Eric is too interesting to break away from for long, but I do manage to sneak a quick ‘coolsite of the week’ in there too:
- Product Manuals via Retrevo – Don’t have room for all those manuals for stereos, dishwashers, refrigerators, TV’s and so on? Lost them in a fire (that somehow didn’t ruin all the products themselves)? Check here for free downloads in PDF form of consumer products!
The podcast only song of the week this week is Intelligentactile 101 by Jesca Hoop!
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