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TechStuff

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TechStuff is getting a system update. Everything you love about Tech Stuff now twice the bandwidth with new hosts, Oz Woloshyn (Sleepwalkers) and Karah Preiss (Sleepwalkers). 

Oz and Karah bring humour and wit to the table as they break down what's happening in tech...and what it says about us. 

TechStuff is the podcast where technology meets culture. 

We speak to the folks building the future to understand what tomorrow will look like and how our technology is changing us: how we live, how we love, how we work and even how we die. With a healthy dose of drama, too, as tech titans clash over their interstellar ambitions. 

Get in touch here: techstuffpodcast@gmail.com

Episodes

How Dynamic Ads Work in Podcasts

Listener Ryan Barrier asked how advertising works in podcasting, and how even old episodes can have current ads in them. So in this episode, we look at dynamic ad insertion and the tricky challenge of balancing business with content. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 14, 202241 min

Tech News: Twitter Shareholders Vote on Acquisition Today

Twitter's shareholders are expected to approve Elon Musk's proposed Twitter acquisition even as Musk continues to try and extricate himself from the deal. Meta spins off the PyTorch project into a new, independent foundation. Square Enix announces that a computer game is going to shut down prematurely. And much more! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 13, 202232 min

Obsolete Forms of Media

One challenge with data preservation is that the way we store information changes rapidly. In this episode, we look at some media formats that are now obsolete, including some that Jonathan had never heard about before! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 12, 202248 min

TechStuff Classic: The Decline of Google+

Is Google Plus heading off into the sunset? What happened? In this update to a classic episode, TechStuff looks at what went wrong. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 09, 20221 hr 8 min

Tech News: Apple Announces New iPhones and More

Apple held its Far Out event and unveiled new iPhones, Apple Watches and Airpods. Google is telling employees to cut back on company travel. Microsoft has invested in Travis Kalanick's next company. And Twitter is going to let a subset of users finally edit their tweets. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 08, 202228 min

The Automated Highway Concept

Way back in 1939, GM proposed a highway system that would allow cars to travel rapidly down highways with no danger of traffic congestion or accidents. What would it take to create an automated highway system, and why is the focus instead on making vehicles themselves autonomous? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 07, 202237 min

Tech News: NASA Delays Artemis I Launch

We'll have to wait a while longer before the first of NASA's missions to return us to the Moon takes off. Plus, Brazil tells Apple to include phone chargers or else, a human rights group tells Meta to step up against Brazilian President Bolsonaro's misinformation campaign, and the hardware chief who oversaw the development of the PS5 is retiring. And more! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 06, 202233 min

How the Great Movie Ride Worked

Special guest Jack Pattillo joins the show to talk about the former Disney Hollywood Studios attraction, The Great Movie Ride. From immersive storytelling to the implementation of a new kind of animatronic, Jack and Jonathan explore this long-gone ride. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 05, 20221 hr 4 min

TechStuff Classic: Is Carbon Dating on the way out?

How does radiocarbon dating work? And why might it be less reliable in the future? Learn about carbon-14 and how it can be used to guess when ancient things were alive. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 02, 202226 min

Tech News: Going Back to the Moon and Playing D&D in Space

NASA is going to try again with the Artemis I launch, part of the program to return humans to the Moon's surface. Microsoft faces potential resistance to its acquisition of Activision Blizzard among UK regulators. And Dungeons & Dragons sends a D20 to space. Kind of. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 01, 202235 min

TechStuff Tidbits: How do Cams work?

What is a cam? How do cams fit into mechanical systems, and why do we use them? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 31, 202220 min

Smart Talks with IBM - The Mayflower Autonomous Ship: AI and Automation at Sea

The world’s first autonomous vessel to cross the Atlantic Ocean is signaling a new era in maritime technology. In this episode of Smart Talks with IBM, Malcolm Gladwell takes on this topic with Lauren Ober, host of The Loudest Girl in the World, and guests Brett Phaneuf and Don Scott, the engineers behind the Mayflower Autonomous Ship project. The two explain how automation and AI allowed them to reimagine the design and use of a ship at sea and their implications beyond maritime navigation. Thi...

Aug 30, 202230 min

I Never Meta Pixel That I Liked

A listener asked to learn more about the Facebook/Meta Pixel, an ad tool that is incredibly powerful (and invasive). What is the Pixel, how does it work, and is there any escape from it? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 29, 202250 min

Tech News: Twitter and Facebook Shut Down Pro-US Propaganda Campaign

Facebook and Twitter have been shutting down fake accounts spreading pro-US narratives in the Middle East and Asia. Google warns us of a hacking tool that can download your entire email inbox. And in most of the world it's about to get more expensive to buy a new PS5. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 25, 202234 min

Janet Jackson and Nikola Tesla

How could a music video's audio shutdown a computer? Why did the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapse in 1940? And did Nikola Tesla build an earthquake machine? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 24, 202239 min

Tech News: When is a nanometer not a nanometer?

Apple's 3 nm chips are on the way. A former Apple employee pleads guilty to industrial espionage. Oracle allegedly knows everything about you. And Sony announced its new VR hardware will be out in early 2023. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 23, 202220 min

The History of Smart TVs

Televisions weren't always smart. You might argue they still aren't. But there's a surprisingly long history behind them and of the effort to bring extra information to televisions. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 22, 202249 min

Tech News: Mt. Kilimanjaro Gets WiFi

Tanzania has installed high-speed internet on Mt. Kilimanjaro, providing more resources to mountain climbers and influencers alike. Facebook and TikTok are cracking down on political misinformation in the lead up to US elections. And a Janet Jackson music video was once the scourge of laptop hard drives. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 18, 202227 min

VR, the Metaverse, and Barriers to Entry

In this episode, we look at some of the issues with VR that could act as a stumbling block on the journey to the metaverse. How will VR play a part in the metaverse, and will it create a new and more dramatic digital divide? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 17, 202249 min

Tech News: Hacking a Tractor to Play Doom

Apple reportedly has a new deadline requiring corporate employees to come back to the office. Some Signal users had their phone numbers exposed in a phishing attack. And a hacker partnered with a Doom modder to bring the first person shooter to tractors. Plus more See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 16, 202220 min

Affirm and Max Levchin

How does the fintech company Affirm work? And what's the story behind its founder, Max Levchin? From Chernobyl to Peloton, our story takes some pretty crazy twists and turns. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 15, 202249 min

TechStuff Classic: TechStuff Takes Manhattan (Project)

What was the Manhattan Project all about? What went on during the Manhattan Project and who were the influential people involved? Ben Bowlin joins the show to talk about it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 12, 20221 hr 11 min

Tech News: Cisco Gets Hacked

Ransomware hackers got access to some Cisco systems but forgot to actually do the ransom part. Streaming services are grappling with the problem of managing costs and becoming profitable. And SpaceX's Starlink won't be getting hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid after all. Plus more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 11, 202219 min

Super Soakers and Rocket Science

How did a nuclear engineer end up inventing the Super Soaker water gun? This is the story of Lonnie Johnson, an inventor and engineer who, among many other things, revolutionized the backyard water pistol fight. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 10, 202236 min

Tech News: How do you Google is Google Down when Google is Down?

Google's software update caused a brief but widespread outage of services. The US government stalls on passing an antitrust bill that would have a massive effect on the tech sector. And the semiconductor shortage continues to disrupt the automotive industry, plus more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 09, 202227 min

What does Google X do?

Listener Charlie wants to know about X, the Alphabet subsidiary where Google engineers conduct super secret research and development on everything from jetpacks to augmented reality headsets. We learn about its history and some of its successes and failures. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 08, 202249 min

TechStuff Classic: The Manhattan Project Part One

In this episode, Ben Bowlin joins the show to talk about the scientific and political landscape that made the Manhattan Project possible. What was Einstein's role? Who first discovered nuclear fission? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 05, 20221 hr 2 min

Tech News: Virtual Real Estate Values Plummet in the Metaverse

Late last year, speculation around the metaverse fed into a crazy market for virtual real estate. Six months later, values have dropped 80%. What happened? Plus an update on Apple's battle with Ericsson and how some researchers were able to defeat a next-generation encryption strategy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 04, 202227 min